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HISTORIGAL COLLECTIONS 



^"k5' 



ALL NATIONS: 



COMPRISING NOTICES OF THE MOST 



IRcmatltatle iSbrntss ant! ^t^tingiiiriljcti €i)aractcrg 
in X\)t HJi^lorg of tijc SSlorlti ; 



WITH ANECDOTES OP 



HEROES, STATESMEN, PATRIOTS, AND SOVEREIGNS, 

WHO HAVE SIGNALIZED THEIR NAMES IN ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY; 



WITH SPECIAL NOTICES OF 



THE HEROES OF THE WEST. 



BY JOHN FKOST, LL.D. 

AtJTnOR OF " PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," " LIVES OF THE AMERICAN GEKEEALSj" 

ETC. ETC. ETC. 



HAETFORD : 

CASE, TIFFANY & CO. 

1852. 



Emered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by 

CASE, TIFFANY & CO., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Connecticut. 



SrEKl'OTTPKD BT I.. .lOIINSON AN"!) CO. 
PHlLADEI.l'inA. 







A COMPLETE history of the world, in strict chronological 
order, has its peculiar advantages for reference and for accurate 
information. On the other hand, a volume of historical collec- 
tions, which leaves the author at liberty to choose the most 
striking passages of history, and bring forward the most 
prominent characters in full relief, while he entirely rejects or 
notices in a summary manner the drier details, has the 
advantage of enabling him to give a more lively, entertaining, 
and readable book, than he could possibly do by conforming to 
all the conditions of regular historical writing. 

In this volume I have endeavoured to present in a lively 
way the more prominent and popular features in the history 
of all those nations who have made any remarkable figure in 
history. In most instances, a summary outhne precedes the 
portions on which I have thought it best for the reader's enter- 
tainment to dilate. But I have considered that the title and 
design of the work left me at full liberty to select any portion 
of a country's annals which promised entertainment and instruc- 
tion, and to reject any other parts which were less suited to 
my purpose. 



PREFAC E. 



A slight outline only is given of American history, because 
books on that subject are so abundant ; but the Border Wars 
of the West have been dwelt on with more detail, and more of 
individual enterprise and adventure given, because the sub- 
ject is comparatively fresh and full of interest. 

I have embellished the book very copiously with engravings. 
That is my way ; and, as I have had frequent occasion to 
remark, it has its advantages. It appeals directly to the eye, 
and impresses characters and events indelibly on the mind. 
We remember a great man or a great event longer if we have 
seen the portrait of the man, or the picture of the event, than 
if we had only read the historical accounts of them without 
the aid which pictorial art gives to the memory. 

The public have afforded very satisfactory evidence of their 
approbation of my method, by the liberal encouragement given 
to the publishers of my embellished works. 





COI^TEI^TS. 



PAGE 

Outline History of Ancient Greece 1^ 

Principal Cities of Ancient Greece — Athens — Thebes — Delphi — Sparta 

—Corinth 21 

Grecian Idolatry ^^ 

The Grecian Mysteries and Oracles 39 

Public Games and Festivals of the Greeks - • • 47 

The Trojan War 51 

Lycurgus and his Laws 54 

Exploits of Aristomenes, the Messenian Hero 57 

Siege of Eira — Last Exploits of Aristomenes 63 

Solon, Pisistratus, and the Pisistratida^ 68 

First Persian Invasion 75 

Second Persian Invasion ^7 

Socrates 149 

Death of Socrates 123 

Alcibiades and the Peloponnesian War 130 

The Retreat of the Ten Thousand 142 

Macedon: Geography and early History — Reign of Philip 145 



10 CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Alexander the Great 151 

Kome 188 

Founding of Rome — Romulus and Remus 193 

Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, and Ancus Marcius 197 

The Tarquins— Fall of the Monarchy 200 

Coriolanus 207 

Cineinnatus 210 

The Decemvirs — Sicinius Dentatus 212 

Story of Virginia , 214 

Taking of Rome by the G-auls 219 

Carthage 223 

First Punic War 226 

Second and Third Punic Wars 232 

Siege of Nuniantia 235 

Adventures of Marius 238 

Catiline's Conspiracy 241 

The First Triumvirate — Caisar in Gaul and Britain 243 

War between Pompey and Ca3sar 244 

Death of Pompey 251 

Death of Csesar 253 

Caesar's Funeral 257 

The Second Triumvirate 259 

Battle of Philippi — Antony and Cleopatra 262 

Battle of Actium — Death of Antony and Cleopatra , 268 

Caligula 273 

Claudius 277 

Nero 279 

Constantino the Great 284 

Theodosius the Great 286 

Outline History of Palestine, and more particularly of the Jews 288 

The State of the Jews since the Destruction of Jerusalem 310 

Armenia 315 

Albania 317 

History of Egypt, with Syria 320 

Ancient Germany — Successful Resistance of the Germans against the 

Romans 339 



CONTENTS. 11 



PAGE 



The Huns and the Visigoths— Alaric and Attila— Fall of the Western 

Empire ^'^^ 

The Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire— Justinian— Bolisarius 348 

Arabia — Mohammed ^'-^^ 

France— Charles Martel ^^^ 

France and Germany— Charlemagne, the first Germanic-Roman Em- 

364 

peror 

Spain — Its Conquest by the Moors ^'" 

Scandinavia— The Northmen 375 

Italy— Hildebrand ^^^ 

Q. ., 391 

bicily 

Syria— The Crusades : ^^^ 

The Turkish or Ottoman Empire •^^'^ 

Persia ^"^ 

China and Tartary "^^^ 

England — Early Attempt at Reformation— John Wickliffe 441 

Bohemia— The Martyrdom of John Huss— The Hussite War 443 

Portugal "^^^ 

Spain ^^^ 

Pisa, Genoa, Florence, and Venice 4G9 

Italy — Rieuzi and Massaniello "*^- 

The Netherlands ••" '^^'^ 

TT , 494 

Hungary 

India.... 507 

England, to the End of the Reign of Henry III 526 

Wales... 5^^ 

Scotland 55^ 

England, from the Reign of Edward I. to that of Henry VII 556 

Outline History of America 5/1- 

The United States ^^^ 



Mexico. 



609 



Canada • ^^*^ 



Peru. 



618 



Chili : 621 

Brazil 624 

The Republic of La Plata, or United Provinces 628 



12 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Colombia 631 

Venezuela 632 

Bolivia 633 

Guiana 634 

Amazonia 635 

Episodes of American History — King Philip's War 636 

Border Wars of Kentucky 651 

Border Wars of Ohio 687 

Border Wars of Indiana 724 

Border Wars of Illinois 748 

Border Wars of Michigan 765 

Border Wars of Tennessee 787 

Border Wars of Louisiana 806 

The Russian Empire 830 

Poland 840 

Sweden 843 

Switzerland 849 

England, from the Reign of Henry VIII. to James II 854 

England, from William III. to the Present Time.. 916 

Germany — The Reformation 940 

Prussia — Frederick the Great 950 

France — Succession of the Kings from Hugh Capet to Louis Philip 955 

France — Napoleon 958 

European Revolutions of 1848-49 965 

New Mexico and California 993 

Cuba lOOG 




''^"'Mm/////''/''^ 




i 



all the 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



HIS deservedly celebrated country of an- 
tiquity — the seat of science, literature, and 
the fine arts, at a period when the greater 
part of the European continent was involved 
in the obscurity of barbaric ignorance — in 
its most palmy state comprised the southern 
portion of the great eastern peninsula of 
Europe, and extended to about 42° of north latitude, in- 
cluding Thessaly and a part of modern Albania, with the 
Ionian islands, Crete, and the islands of the Archipelago. 
Modern Greece, although not so considerable in extent as the 
far-famed Greece of ancient date, comprises the territories of 
most celebrated and interesting of the Grecian states. 

13 




14 OUTLINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



By all the accounts which have been handed down, the earliest 
inhabitants of Greece were barbarous in the extreme. They lived on 
those fruits of the earth which grew spontaneously ; their shelter was 
in dens or caves, and the country was one wild, uncultivated desert. 
By slow degrees they advanced towards civilization, forming them- 
selves into regular societies to cultivate the lands, and build towns 
and cities. But their original barbarity and mutual violence ine- 
vented them from uniting as one nation, or even into any considera- 
ble community ; and hence the great number of states into which 
Greece was originally divided. 

Tlie history of Greece is divided into three principal periods — the 
periods of its rise, its power, and its fall. The first extends from 
tlio origin of the people, about 1800 years c. c, to Lycurgus, 875 
years b. c. ; the second extends from that time to the conquest of 
Greece by the Romans, 14G b. c. ; the third shows us the Greeks as a 
conquered people, constantly on the decline, until at Icngtli, about 
A. D. 300, the old Grecian states were swallowed up in the Byzantine 
empire. According to tradition, the Pelasgi, under Inaclius, were 
tlie first people who wandered into Greece. They dwelt in caves in 
tlic earth, supporting themselves on wild fruits, and eating the flesh 
of their conquered enemies, until Phoroneus, who is called king of 
Argos, began to introduce civilization among them. 

Some barbarous tribes received names from the three brothers, 
Achjeus, Pelasgus, and Pythius, who led colonies from Arcadia into 
Thessaly, and also from Thessalus and Graecus (the sons of Pelasgus) 
and others. Deucalion's flood, 1514 b. c, and the emigration of a 
new people from Asia, the Hellenes, produced great changes. The 
Hellenes spread themselves over Greece, and drove out the Pelasgi, 
or mingled with them. Their name became the general name of the 
Greeks. Greece now raised itself from its savage state, and im- 
] -roved still more rapidly after the arrival of some Phoenician and 
Egyptian colonies. About sixty years after the flood of Deucalion, 
Cadmus, the Phoenician, settled in Thebes, and introduced a know- 
ledge of the alphabet. Ceres, from Sicily, and Triptolemus, from 
Eleusis, taught the nation agriculture, and Bacchus planted the vine. 
Now began the heroic age, to which Hercules, Jason, Pirithous, 
and Theseus belong, and that of the old bards and sages, as Ta- 
myris, Amphion, Orpheus, Linus, Musrous, Chiron, and many others. 
A Avariike spirit filled the whole nation, so that every quarrel called 
all the heroes of Greece to arms ; as for instance the war against 
Thebes, and the Trojan Avar, 1200 B. c, which latter forms one 
of the principal epochs in the history of Greece. This war de- 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 15 



I I 

! I 

1 ! 



prived many kingdoms of their princes, and produced a general con- 
fusion, of which the Heraclidoe took advantage, eighty years after 
the destruction of Troy, to possess themselves of the Peloponnesus. 
They drove out the lonians and Achscans, who took refuge in Attica. 
But, not finding here sufficient room, Neleus (1044 B. c.) led an Ionian 
colony to Asia Minor, where a colony of .S^olians from the Pelopon- 
nesus had already settled, and was followed, eighty years after, by a 
colony of Dorians. 

In other states republics were founded, viz. in Phocis, in Thebes, 
and in the Asiatic colonies, and at length also in Athens and many 
other places ; so that, for the next four hundred years, all the southern 
part of Greece was, for the most part, occupied by republics. Their 
prospei'ity and the fineness of the climate, in the meantime, made the 
Asiatic colonies the mother of the arts and of learning. They gave 
birth to the songs of Homer and Hesiod. There commerce, naviga- 
tion, and law flourished. Greece, however, still retained its ancient 
simplicity of manners, and was unacquainted with luxury. If the 
population of any state became too numerous, colonies were sent out ; 
for example, in the seventh and eighth centuries, the powerful colonies 
of Rhegium, Syracuse, Sybaris, Crotona, Tarentum, Gela, Locris, and 
Messena were planted in Sicily and the southern parts of Italy. The 
small independent states of Greece needed a common bond of union. 
This bond was found in the temple of Delphi, the Amphictyonic 
council, and the solemn games, among which the Olympic were the 
most distinguished, the institution, or rather revival of which, 776 
B. c, furnishes the Greeks with a chronological era. From this time, 
Athens and Sparta began to surpass the other states of Greece in 
power and importance. 

At the time of the Persian war, Greece had already made important 
advances in civilization. Besides the art of poetry, we find that 
philosophy began to be cultivated GOO B. c, and even earlier in Ionia 
and Lower Italy than in Greece Proper. Statuary and painting were 
in a flourishing condition. The important colonies of Massilia (Mar- 
seilles) in Gaul, and Agrigentum, in Sicily, were founded. Athens 
was continually extending her commerce, and established important 
commercial posts in Thrace. In Asia Minor, the Grecian colonies 
wei-e brought under the dominion of the Lydian Croesus, and soon 
after under that of Cyrus. Greece itself was threatened with a simi- 
lar fate by the Persian kings, Darjus and Xerxes. Then the heroic 
spirit of the free Greeks showed itself in its greatest brilliancy. 
Athens and Sparta almost alone withstood the vast armies of the 
Persian ; and the battles of Marathon, Thermopyloe, and Platasa, as 



16 OUTLINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



well as the sea-fights at Artemisium, Salamis, and Mycale, taught the 
Persians that the Greeks were not to be subdued by them. Athens 
now exceeded all the other states in splendour and in power. The 
supremacy which Sparta had hitherto maintained devolved on this 
city, whose commander, Cimon, compelled the Persians to acknow- 
ledge the independence of Asia Minor. Athens was also the centre 
of the arts and sciences. The Peloponnesian war now broke out, 
Sparta being no longer able to endure the overbearing pride of 
Athens. This war devastated Greece, and enslaved Athens, until 
Thrasybulus again restored its freedom ; and, for a short time, Sparta 
was compelled, in her turn, to bend before the Theban heroes, Epami- 
nondas and Pelopidas. In spite of these disturbances, poets, philoso- 
phers, artists, and statesmen continued to arise, commerce flourished, 
and manners and customs were carried to the highest degree of 
refinement. But that unhappy period had now arrived, when the 
Greeks, ceasing to be free, ceased to advance in civilization. 

A kingdom, formed by conquest, had grown up on the north of Greece, 
the ruler of which, Philip, united courage with cunning. The dissen- 
sions which prevailed among the diifercnt states afforded him an op- 
portunity to exert his ambitious plans, and the battle of Clireronea, 
338 B. c, gave Macedonia the command of all Greece. In vain did 
the subjugated states hope to become free after his death. The de- 
struction of Thebes was sufficient to subject all Greece to the young 
Alexander. This prince, as generalissimo of the Greeks, gained the 
most splendid victories over the Persians. An attempt to liberate 
Greece, occasioned by a false report of his death, was frustrated by 
Antipater. The Lamian war, after the death of Alexander, was 
equally unsuccessful. Greece was now little better than a Macedonian 
province. Luxury had enervated the ancient courage and energy of 
the nation. At length, most of the states of southern Greece, Sparta 
and /Etolia excepted, concluded the Achrean league, for the mainte- 
nance of their freedom against the Macedonians. A dispute having 
arisen between this league and Sparta, the latter applied to Macedonia 
for help, and was victorious. But this friendship was soon fatal, for 
it involved Greece in the contest between Philip and the Romans, who, 
at first, indeed, restored freedom to the Grecian states, while they 
changed ^tolia, and soon after Macedonia, into Roman provinces; but 
they afterwards began to excite dissensions in the Achrean league, 
interfered in the quarrels of the ijlreeks, and finally compelled them 
to take up arms to maintain their freedom. So unequal a contest 
could not long remain undecided ; the capture of Corinth, 146 b. c, 
placed the Greeks in the power of the Romans. 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 17 



During the whole period which elapsed between the battle of Chse- 
ronea and the destruction of Corinth by the Romans, the arts and 
sciences flourished among the Greeks ; indeed, the golden age of the 
arts was in the time of Alexander. The Grecian colonies were yet in 
a more flourishing condition than the mother country; especially 
Alexandria, in Egypt, which became the seat of learning. As they, 
also, in process of time, fell under the dominion of the Romans, they 
became, like their mother country, the instructors of their conquerors. 
In the time of Augustus the Greeks lost even the shadow of their 
former freedom, and ceased to be an independent people, although 
their language, manners, customs, learning, arts, and taste spread 
over the whole Roman empire. The character of the nation was now 
sunk so low, that the Romans esteemed a Greek as the most worth- 
less of creatures. Asiatic luxury had wholly corrupted them ; their 
ancient love of freedom and independence was extinguished, and a 
mean servility was substituted in its place. At the beginning of the 
fourth century, the nation scarcely showed a trace of the noble cha- 
racteristics of their fathers. The barbarians soon after began their 
ruinous incursions into Greece. 

The principal traits in the character of the ancient Greeks were 
simplicity and grandeur. The Greek was his own instructor, and if 
he learned any thing from others, he did it with freedom and inde- 
pendence. Nature was his great model, and in his native land she 
displayed herself in all her charms. The uncivilized Greek was 
manly and proud, active and enterprising, violent both in his hate 
and in his love. He esteemed and exercised hospitality towards 
strangers and countrymen. These features of the Grecian character 
had an important influence on the religion, politics, manners, and 
philosophy of the nation. The gods of Greece were not, like those 
of Asia, surrounded by a holy obscurity : they were human in their 
faults and virtues, but were placed far above mortals. They kept up 
an intercourse with men ; good and evil came from their hands ; all 
physical and moral endowments were their gift. The moral system 
of the earliest Greeks taught them to honour the gods by an exact 
observance of customs ; to hold the rites of hospitality sacred, and 
even to spare murderers, if they fled to the sanctuaries of the gods for 
refuge. Cunning and revenge were allowed to be practised against 
enemies. No law enforced continence. The power of the father, of 
the husband, or the brother, alone guarded the honour of the female 
sex, who therefore lived in continual dependence. The loss of virtue 
was severely punished, but the seducer brought his gifts and ofl'erings 

2 



18 OUTLINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



to the gods, as if liis conduct had been guiltless. The security of 
domestic life rested entirely on the master of the family. 

From these characteristic traits of the earliest Greeks, originated, 
in the sequel, the peculiarities of their religions notions, their love of 
freedom and action, their taste for the beautiful and the grand, and 
the simplicity of their manners. The religion of the Greeks was not 
so much mingled with superstition as that of the Romans ; thus, for 
example, they were unacquainted with the practice of augury. The 
Greek was inclined to festivity even in religion, and served the gods 
less in spirit than in outward ceremonies. His religion had little in- 
fluence on his morals, his belief, and the government of his thoughts. 
All it required was a belief in the gods, and in a future existence ; a 
freedom from gross crimes, and an observance of prescribed rites. 
The simplicity of their manners, and some obscure notions of a su- 
preme God, who hated and punished evil, loved and rewarded good, 
served, at first, to maintain good morals and piety among them. 
These notions were afterwards exalted and systematized by poetry 
and philosophy ; and the improvement spread from the cultivated 
classes through the great mass of the people. 

In the most enlightened period of Greece, clearer ideas of the 
unity of the deity, of his omniscience, his omnipresence, his holiness, 
his goodness, his justice, and of the necessity of worshipping him by 
virtue and purity of heart, prevailed. The moral system of some 
individuals among the Greeks was equally pure. 

The precepts of morality were delivered at first in sententious 
maxims ; for example, the sayings of the seven wise men. After- 
wards, Socrates and his disciples arose, and promulgated their pure 
doctrines. The love of freedom among the Greeks sprang from their 
good fortune in having lived so long without oppression or fear of 
other nations, and from their natural vivacity of spirit. It was this 
which made small armies invincible, and which caused Lycurgus, 
Solon, and Timoleon to refuse crowns. Their freedom was the work 
of nature, and the consequence of their original patriarchal mode of 
life. Their first kings were considered as fathers of families, to whom 
obedience was willingly paid, in return for protection and favours. 
Important affairs were decided by the assemblies of the people. Each 
man was master in his own house, and in early times no taxes were 
paid. But as the kings strove continually to extend their powers, 
they were ultimately compelled to resign their dignities ; and free 
states arose, with forms of government inclining more or less to aris- 
tocracy or democracy, or composed of a union of the two ; the citi- 
zens were attached to a government which was administered under 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREECE. 19 



the direction of wise laws, and not of arbitrary power. It was this 
noble love of a free country which prompted Leonidas to say to the 
king of Persia, that he would rather die than hold a despotic sway 
over Greece. It was this which inspired Solon, Themistocles, De- 
mosthenes, and Phocion, when, in spite of the ingratitude of their 
countrymen, they chose to serve the state and the laAvs, rather than 
their own interests. The cultivation of their fruitful country, which, 
by the industry of the inhabitants, afforded nourishment to several 
millions, and the wealth of their colonies, prove the activity of the 
Greeks. Commerce, navigation, and manufactures flourished on all 
sides ; knowledge of every sort was accumulated ; the spirit of inven- 
tion was busily at work ; the Greeks learned to estimate the pleasures 
of society, but they also learned to love luxury. From these sources 
of activity sprang also a love of great actions and great enterprises, 
so many instances of which are furnished by Grecian history. 
Another striking trait of the Grecian character was a love of the 
beautiful, both physical and intellectual. This sense of the beautiful, 
awakened and developed by nature, created for itself an ideal of 
beauty, which served them, and has been transmitted to us, as a cri- 
terion for every work of art. 

We have seen to what a state of degradation the Greeks were 
reduced in a few centuries after their subjugation by the Romans. 
Thus it continued as long as it was either really or nominally a por- 
tion of the Roman empire ; till, at length, like the imperial mistress 
of the world herself, it bent before the all-subduing Alaric the Goth, 
A. D. 400, and shared in all the miseries which were brought by the 
northern barbarians who successively overran and ravaged the south 
of Europe. After the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204, 
Greece was divided into feudal principalities, and governed by a 
variety of Norman, Venetian, and Prankish nobles ; but in 1261, 
with the exception of Athens and Nauplia, it was reunited to the 
Greek empire by Michael Paleologus. But it not long remained un- 
molested, for the Turks, then rising into notice, aimed at obtaining 
power in Europe, and Amurath II. deprived the Greeks of all their 
cities and castles on the Euxine sea, and along the coasts of Thrace, 
Macedon and Thessaly, carrying his victorious arms, in short, into 
the midst of the Peloponnesus. The Grecian emperors acknowledged 
him as their superior lord, and he, in turn, afforded them protection. 
This conquest, however, Avas not effected without a brave resistance, 
particularly from two heroic Christians, John Hunniades, a celebrated 
Hungarian general, and George Castriot, an Albanian prince, better 
known in history by the name of Scanderberg. 



20 



OUTLINE HISTORY OP ANCIENT GREECE. 



When Mohammed II., in 1451, ascended the Ottoman throne, the 
fate of the Creek empire seemed to be decided. At the head of an army 
of 300,000 men, supported by a fleet of three hundred sail, he laid 
siege to Constantinople, and encouraged his troops by spreading reports 
of prophecies and prodigies that portended the triumph of Islamism. 
Constantino, the last of the Greek emperors, met the storm Avith 
becoming resolution, and maintained the city for fifty-three days, 
though the fanaticism and fury of the besiegers were raised to the 
highest pitch. At length (May 29, 1453) the Turks stormed the 
Avails, and the brave Constantino perished at the head of his faithful 
troops. The final conquest of Greece did not, however, take place 
till 1481. Neither were the conquerors long left in undisturbed 
possession of their ncAvly-acquired territory ; and during the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries Greece was the scene of obstinate wars, till 
the treaty of Passarovitz, in 1718, confirmed the Turks in their con- 
quest ; and for a century from that time the inhabitants of Greece 
groaned under their despotic sway. 

"Yet are hei' skies as blue, her crags as wild, 

Sweet are her groves and verdant are her fields, 
Her olives ripe as when Minerva smiled, 

And still his honied wealth Ilymcttus yields ; 
There the blythe bee his fragrant fortress builds. 

The freeborn wanderer of her mountain air; 
Apollo still her long, long summer gilds, 

Still in his beam Mendeli's marbles glare : 
Art, glory, freedom fail, but nature still is fair," 



^^ 














The Pnyx. 




PRINCIPAL CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 

ATHENS, THEBES, DELPHI, SPARTA, CORINTH. 

THENS lay in a plain, extending about four 
^^.; , ^, -ly miles towards the south-west, in the direction 

f^i^,ri] k^^^^^r^ '^ of the sea and the harbours ; on the other side 
it was enclosed by mountains. The plain itself 
was interrupted by several rocky hills, of which 
that named the Acropolis was the most remark- 
able. 

Athens was founded by Cecrops, a native of Sals, in Egypt, about 
1556 years before the Christian era, and was named after the Egyp- 
tian goddess Neith, whom the Greeks called Athen(i, and the Romans 
Minerva. The first buildings were erected on the hill of the Acro- 
polis, which probably had been occupied by some of the Pelasgic 
tribes before the arrival of Cecrops ; thence the city gradually ex- 
tended on every side, especially towards the sea, until the long walls 
built by Themistocles uniting the city to the Piraeus, completed 
the enclosure of Athens in its greatest extent. 

The summit of the Acropolis 
was a level plain eight hundred 
feet in length, and nearly four 
liundred in breadth ; it was 
remarkable for the magnificent 
prospect which it afforded, for 
having been the ancient cradle 
of the nation, and, above all, 

The Acropolis. 21 




22 PRINCIPAL CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



for those masterpieces of architecture which were erected by Pericles 
and other statesmen, to be the glory of their own age and the admi- 
ration of posterity. The view to the north-west commanded the dis- 
tant peaks of Mount Cithoeron, famous for the orgies of the Baccha- 
nalians, rising majestically over the surrounding hills ; to the north- 
east lay Pentelicus, celebrated for its quarries of the finest marble ; 
the two summits of Ilymettus, celebrated for its abundant supply of 
the richest honey, lay to the east ; as the spectator turned south- 
wards, he beheld Laurium, valuable for its silver mines, appearing at 
the remote extremity of the Attic peninsula ; but on the south and 
south-west was a prospect which awakened all the pride of an Athe- 
nian, and M'hicli even a modern traveller can scarcely view without 
emotion, since in that direction were seen the three harbours with 
their shipping and dockyards ; the Saronic gulf, the islands of Sala- 
mis and ^gina, the outline of the Argive shores ; and in the remote 
distance, the pinnacle of the Corinthian citadel, the commercial rival 
of Athens. 

To facilitate the student's conception of the following brief descrip- 
tion of Athens, we shall suppose him to ascend the Acropolis, and 
from thence survey the different parts of the city. A flight of mar- 
ble steps led to the PropyliTea, or entrance to the Acropolis, erected 
by Pericles at an expense of nearly half a million sterling. The 
wings of this splendid structure were two temples ; in one Minerva 
Avas worshipped as the goddess of victory; the other was adorned 
with paintings, executed by Polygnotus. The citadel had nine gates; 
on the north it was fortified by the Pelasgic wall, said to have been 
erected by the ancient Pelasgi ; on the south it was at first only 
defended by palings, which some of the xithenians mistook for the 
wooden walls declared by the oracle to be their best defence against 
the Persians ; but after the victory at Mycale, Cimon erected a wall 
called after bis name, which completed the enclosure. Within these 
bounds lay the principal public buildings of Athens, the temples, the 
treasury, and the courts of judicature. 

It would be impossible, in our narrow limits, to describe all the 
edifices collected on this fixvoured spot ; we shall therefore only men- 
tion the principal. Far the most remarkable was the Parthenon, or 
temple of Minerva, the noblest piece of architecture that the world 
has ever seen, rebuilt by Pericles, after its destruction by the Per- 
sians, of the purest Pentelic marble. It contained three statues of 
Minerva: one of olive wood, so ancient that it was said to have fallen 
from heaven ; one of marble ; and one of gold and ivory, the work 
of Phidias, and deemed, next to his statue of the Olympic Jupiter, 



PRINCIPAL CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 25 



the greatest triumph of sculpture. The temple commemorating the 
contest of two deities for the patronage of the city, was divided into 
two chapels, the one dedicated to Minerva, Pallas, or patroness of 
the city ; the other to Neptune. In these were contained the salt- 
spring Erechtheis, said to have been produced from the earth by a 
blow of Neptune's trident, and the sacred olive planted there by 
Minerva. Behind the Parthenon was the public treasury, called, 
from its situation, Opisthodomos, or the house in the rear ; in this, 
a thousand talents were always kept to meet any sudden emergency. 
At the foot of the Acropolis on the north side was the Prytaneium, 
a common hall, where the magistrates and those who had deserved 
well of their country, were fed at the public expense. On the south 
were the Odeum, where musical contests were celebrated ; and the 
theatre of Bacchus, where tragedies were acted in honour of that 
deity, and the merits of rival dramatists determined. The northern 
quarter of Athens, named Melite, contained little of importance. 
Ceramicus was the name given to the western part of the city, from 
the nature of its soil, which was potters' clay ; this name was also 
extended to a portion of the country beyond the walls. The Cera- 
micus contained the agora or forum, which was the principal market- 
place of Athens, and sometimes the scene of the public assemblies. 
It was ornamented by several porticoes, of which the most remarkable 
were the Poecile and the portico of the Hermos. The Poecile derived 
its name from the paintings with which it was ornamented ; in the 
middle was depicted the war between Theseus and the Amazons : 
on one side was the burning of Troy, and on the other the battle of 
Marathon. It was under the shade of this portico that Zeno taught his 
disciples, whence his followers were called Stoics, from a Greek word 
[stoa) signifying a porch. The portico and street of the Ilermce were 
so named from several statues of Hermes or Mercury, with which 
they were ornamented. Only the bust of the figure was formed, the 
lower part was a square pillar, on which moral sentences were written 
for the instruction of the people. 

At the extremity of the Ceramicus, near the Acropolis, stood the 
temple of Theseus, the most beautiful structure in the lower city ; it 
had the privilege of being a sanctuary for slaves, and all men of the 
lower ranks, who dreaded the persecution of the powerful ; — a noble 
compliment to the memory of Theseus, who had ever been the pro- 
tector of the distressed. 

A small valley, Cocle, lay between the Acropolis and the hills 
named the Pnyx and the Areopagus. The latter, which derives its 
name from being consecrated to Mars, was principally remarkable for 



26 



PRINCIPAL CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



the celebrated court that met on its summit. The Pnyx was the 
place in ■which the most important assemblies of the people were 
held; on the top was erected a bema, or pulpit, from which the 
orators spoke; and its position, strangely enough, varied with the 
political constitution of the state. While agriculture was the princi- 
pal employment of the inhabitants of Attica, the government 
remained aristocratic, but when commerce had increased the wealth 
and intelligence of the people, the constitution was changed into an 
almost complete democracy. During this period, the bema was 
placed fronting the sea, intimating that its contemplation should stimu- 
late the orator to protect commerce, as the source both of the wealth 
and political happiness of the state; but when Lysander had over- 
thrown the Athenian power, and subverted the Athenian constitution, 
the bema M'as made to face the country, under the pretence that 
agriculture was pointed out by Minerva as the proper object of the 
attention of the Athenians. A strange illustration of the early belief 
in an aphorism, which has since been frequently exemplified, that a 
commercial country must always be more or less democratic. 

South of the Pnyx was a hill named Musa3um, where a fortress was 
erected by the Macedonians, when they occupied the city. 

There were three harbours belonging to Athens, Munychia, Pirreus, 
and Phalerum. The first of these Avas the most ancient, and was very 
soon deserted : the other two were celebrated for affording safe 
anchorage, and a shelter secure against every storm. The Pirteus 
was the most important haven ; it in fact was a city by itself, with its 
own squares, temples, and agorai, frequented by a commercial crowd 
nearly as numerous and busy as that which was to be found in the 
market-places of Athens. The Pir»us could accommodate four 
hundred triremes, the other two not more than fifty each. 

The road to the harbours was enclosed by a double wall, designed 
and executed by Themistocles. These walls Avere built entirely of 
freestone, and were so wide that two wagons could drive on them 
abreast. The road was ornamented with the monuments of deceased 
poets, statesmen, and warriors, whom the Athenians frequently perse- 
cuted during their lives and almost deified after their death. 

The most remarkable places in the vicinity of Athens were the gym- 
nasia or public schools, three of which deserve to be more particularly 
mentioned ; the Academy, the Lycseum, and the Cynosarges. 

The Academy lay at the north-west side of Athens, at the ex- 
tremity of the Ceramicus, Avithout the walls ; it was originally the 
demesne of a rich Athenian, named Academus, and was the place 
chosen by Plato for the instruction of his disciples. It is said to have 



PRINCIPAL CITIES OP ANCIENT GREECE. 29 



been laid out with great taste and elegance ; and its groves are 
described as among the finest specimens of ornamental planting. 

On the eastern side was the Cjnosarges, where the principles of 
the Cynic philosophy were taught ; and a little to the right of it, the 
Lycaeum, where Aristotle lectured. As this philosopher delivered his 
instructions while walking about the pleasure-grounds, his followers 
were named Peripatetics. 

From the geographical position of Athens, we are led to deduce 
some inferences which may illustrate the history of the republic. 

It was the centre of a small but compact territory ; no inhabitant 
of Attica was more than a day's journey from the metropolis, and 
there was consequently no necessity for local jurisdictions in the 
villages. Athens was emphatically what it was called, Astu, the city ; 
and in it the pride and aifections of all the provincials were as much 
concentrated as if they had been actually citizens. It is, therefore, 
natural to suppose that all the thoughts of the Athenians would be 
directed to the beautifying of their city, as well as to the increase of 
its political influence. 

Attica was not a fertile country, but it was admirably situated for 
extensive commerce ; still there must have been always a powerful 
party favourable to agriculture — men possessed of hereditary claims 
to respect, rich in olive-grounds and fig-gardens, who looked with a 
jealous eye on the riches and influence which men of inferior rank 
acquired by trade. Hence we may expect to find in the history of 
the Athenian republic, traces of a struggle between the landed and 
mercantile interests, in which the former would aim at establishing 
an oligarchy, by limiting the possession of power to men of noble 
birth ; or, what must in early times have been the same thing, per- 
sons inheriting large estates ; while, on the other hand, the advocates 
of commerce would endeavour to establish a pure democracy. 

Finally, Athens would naturally be at the head of the difierent 
commercial states that studded the coasts of the ^gean ; she would 
be almost compelled to send out colonies, and establish depots on the 
Thracian coast, in order to hold communication with the Euxine Sea ; 
she would be the mistress of the ^gean Islands, and in close contact 
with the Persian ^provinces in Asia Minor. From these complicated 
relations, we may expect that various disputes and wars would arise ; 
especially as the democratic nature of the Athenian government 
would prevent the adoption of a steady line of policy. 

The notices of Thebes in ancient writers are not sufiiciently explicit 
to furnish the materials of a long description. It was founded by 
Cadmus, B. c. 1493, but its walls were erected by Amphion and 



30 PRINCIPAL CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



Zethus about a century later. It was more remarkable for its extent 
than for the beauty of its edifices, but its seven gates are spoken of 
as meriting admiration. 

The Thebans looked on their city as the capital of Boeotia, and 
were therefore involved in constant disputes with the other cities in 
that province. We are, therefore, led to expect that in Grecian his- 
tory we shall find the Thebans more anxious to extend their dominion 
over their neighbours, than to exert themselves for the general benefit 
of the Hellenic community. 

Delphi, whose celebrated oracle exercised so great an influence over 
the Grecian states, was romantically situated in a valley of Mount 
Parnassus, and imbosomed in dark forests. The veneration in which 
the temple of Apollo and the Pythian responses were held, induced 
not only the Greek states, but even foreign princes, to send rich 
treasures to the shrine ; and Delphi, even at an early age, became 
celebrated for the extent of its stores and the beauty of its decora- 
tions. 

In Grecian history we are not to expect that Delphi will appear 
prominent ; placed out of the way of the different states which con- 
tended for supremacy, it was the common object of veneration to all, 
and consequently all felt interested in maintaining its integrity ; but 
when the treasures collected during ages in the shrine had stimulated 
the cupidity of some neighbouring community, we should naturally 
be inclined to conjecture that the most cruel of all wars, a religious 
war, should be the consequence. 

Sparta, or Lacedoemon, is supposed to have been founded by Lelex, 
a leader of the Pelasgi, but at what time it is impossible to determine ; 
it became a city of considerable importance before the time of the 
Trojan war, and, soon after the Doric invasion, was considered the 
principal city of the Peloponnesus. The name Sparta was strictly ap- 
plicable only to the citadel, erected on a hill in the centre of the city ; 
Lacediemon was a common name for the residences of the five Laco- 
nian tribes which were erected round the citadel. It was one of the 
largest cities in Greece, but being built in a straggling manner, was 
not so populous as several others. As the Spartans professed to 
despise the fine arts, their city did not contain any public edifice of 
importance. There is nothing in the situation of Laceda;mon which 
would lead us to anticipate the eminence at which it arrived. The 
river Eurotas, on whose banks it stood, was celebrated for the clear- 
ness and salubrity of its waters, but it was not a navigable stream, 
and aff'orded no facilities for commerce. The fame of Sparta was 
owing to its political institutions, and not to its geographical position. 



PRINCIPAL CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



31 





Corinth.. 



At the southern extremity 
of the isthmus that united the 
^^ Peloponnesus to Hellas stood 
Corinth, a city enjoying the 
best situation for extensive 
commerce in ancient, or per- 
haps in modern times. It was 
:^^^ founded by Sisyphus, the son 
-'^J^l of yEolus, B. c. 1G16, and was 
„'^^ originally named Ephyre ; but 
"^^^ when the family of Pelops 
became masters of the penin- 
sula, it received its present name from Corinthus, a son of the Phry- 
gian hero. The city was situated at the foot of a loft}^ mountain, 
Acro-corinthus, and was about four miles in extent. It was richly 
adorned with temples and statues, and the supply of water was better 
than in any other Grecian city, for its aqueducts were numerous and 
abundant. 

Acro-corinthus was the strongest fortress in Greece, and rivalled 
the Acropolis of Athens in the magnificence of its prospects; beneath 
it stood the city, Avith its numerous edifices and busy crowd ; beyond 
lay the narrow isthmus, and the two ports of the city Cenchreaj, on 
the Saronic, and Lechoeum, on the Cressaan bay: these harbours 
were usually crowded with ships, for the isthmus furnished a conve- 
nient market, where the merchants of Western Europe might meet 
and trade with the Asiatics. Farther to the north might be seen the 
summits of Helicon and Parnassus ; and on the eastern side a strong 
eye might discern the Athenian Acropolis. 

From this sketch of the position of Corinth, we are led to antici- 
pate the great commerce which it enjoyed, especially with Western 
Europe, as there was no great city on the Ionian Sea. It is also 
natural to suppose that the population would soon become too nume- 
rous for its limited extent, and that the Corinthian colonies would be 
more numerous than those of any other city. As it was the very key 
of the Peloponnesus, we might have expected that Corinth would have 
held the balance of power between Northern and Southern Greece ; 
but its inhabitants were more mercantile than Avarlike, and neglected 
to avail themselves of the military advantages of their situation. 
Commercial jealousy made them in general hostile to the Athenians, 
and consequently allies of the Spartans ; but their hostility to their 
rival was on some occasions tempered with a generosity not very 
usual among competitors in trade. 



32 PRINCIPAL CITIES OF ANCIENT GREECE. 



In case of foreign invasion, Corinth became the citadel of Greece 
The successive bands of spoilers who devastated that unhappy coun- 
try, found this city garrisoned by men eager to defend the last hope 
of their country. Hence, after the decline of Grecian liberty, we 
meet with several instances of Corinth being fiercely besieged and 
heroically defended, and suffering fearfully from the vengeance of 
its barbarous conquerors. In allusion to these circumstances, Lord 
Byron opens his poem of the Siege of Corinth with the following lines, 
whose spirit and beauty will serve as a relief to the dryness of our 
geographical details : — 

Manj' a vanish'd year and age, 
And tempest's breath and battle's rage, 
Have swept o'er Corinth ; yet she stands, 
A fortress form'd to freedom's hands. 
The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock 
Have left untouch'd her hoary rock. 
The key-stone of a land which still, 
Thougli fall'n, looks proudly on that hill, 
The land-mark to the double tide. 
That purpling rolls on either side, 
As if their waters chafed to meet. 
Yet pause and crouch beneath her feet. 
But could the blood before her shed 
Since first Timoleon's brother bled. 
Or baffled Persia's despot fled. 
Arise from out the earth which drank 
The stream of slaughter as it sank. 
That sanguine ocean would o'erflow 
Her isthmus idly spread below : 
Or could the bones of all the slain 
Who perish'd there be piled again, 
V^: That rival pyramid would rise 

More mountain-like, through those clear skies, 
Than yon towei'-capt Acropolis, 
Which seems the very clouds to kiss. 




GRECIAN IDOLATRY. 




HE origin of the Grecian religion has been 
differently narrated by historians, some assert- 
ing that it was originally derived from Egypt, 
others declaring that Phoenicia was its parent, 
while not a few contend, that in the ancient 
history of Crete or Samothrace we must look 
'^^^^^^^^^^^^ ' for those personages whom the Greeks looked 
on as the rulers of Olympus. Much may be said in support of each 
of these several suppositions, for it is probable that the colonies which 
successively settled in the country brought with them the worship 
practised in their native land ; but none of them would, if taken sepa- 
rately, explain the reason of the great difference between the Grecian 
system of idolatry and all those which from time immemorial have 
prevailed in the East. The account given by the ancient Greeks 
themselves, appears to be founded in truth ; they tell us, that the 
poets collected the various traditions which were spread through the 
country, and arranged them into one uniform system, which the beauty 
of their verses soon caused to be Universally adopted. 

Instead of enumerating the names and attributes of the deities, 
which may be found in any pantheon, we shall endeavour rather to 
discover what was the nature of the Grecian religion, in its effect on 
the character of the people, and contrast it with the superstitions of 
Asia. The great struggle between the eastern and western world is 
the most prominent feature in the ensuing history : any light that 
can be thrown on the character of the combatants, will not only make 
us more interested in their fortunes, but also greatly assist us in un- 
derstanding the nature of the contest. 

Every inquiry that has been made into the superstitions that pre- 
vailed in Asia has contributed to prove, that the divinities of the 
East were purely elementary, or in other words, founded on some 

3 33 



34 GRECIAN IDOLATRY. 



power or object of nature, and that the attribute •which they princi- 
pally contemplated in the object of their worship, was resistless power. 
The sun, the moon, the starry host, the earth, the river that watered 
the country, the storms and whirlwinds that laid waste the fields, — these 
and similar objects, mingled with rude ideas of a creating, preserving, 
and destroying poAver, formed the groundwork of the different reli- 
gious systems that prevailed in the East. They did, indeed, some- 
times represent their deities in the human form, because men naturally 
associate ideas of excellence with their own shape ; but they did not 
from thence deduce that the deities were actuated by human feelings. 
The form was always a secondary consideration, and they did not 
hesitate to disfigure it by the most unnatural combinations, in order 
to convey more forcibly their ideas of divine power. The Hindoo 
represents his god with fifty arms, the Phrygian Diana had as many 
breasts; the Egyptians gave to their deities the heads and limbs of 
animals. In all these cases the statue was looked on as a symbol 
rather than a representation. Beings supposed to possess boundless 
power, whom men had no reason to hope would sympathize in their 
condition, naturally inspired terror ; hence the Asiatics adopted a 
religion of fear, and worshipped their gods rather to avert evil than 
procure good. This naturally led to cruel sacrifices ; human beings 
were, and still continue to be, offered up in the East, for mercy and 
love form no part of the attributes with which their deities are invested. 
The influence of such a belief on the mind must have been injurious 
in the highest degree ; it predisposed men to slavery, because they 
were naturally ready to acknowledge in the government of their 
country those principles by which they believed the whole world to 
be directed. Despotism in its worst form they looked upon as the 
great principle that ruled the natural world ; their gods were to be 
conciliated, not by rectitude and piety, but by cruel sufferings, severe 
austerities, and inhuman sacrifices. We find that these same principles 
pervaded all the Asiatic forms of government ; let us now see what 
practical effect they were likely to produce. 

The Asiatics could have no idea of political rights or justice ; their 
patriotism must have consisted in simple attachment to the soil, their 
only connection with the government was blind submission to the 
ruler's will. Hence, when a war broke out, they might fight for pay 
or plunder, through love of their leader, or attachment to their sove- 
reign, but never from a desire to serve their country, or secure its 
independence. This simplified the business of conquest in the East; 
when an army was beaten the country was subdued, the general body 
of the people no more dreamed of resisting a victor, than they would 



GRECIAN IDOLATRY. 35 



attempt to struggle against an earthquake or a whirlwind. Sesostris, 
Cyrus, Alexander, and many others, overran the East with forces 
scarcely suflScient to garrison one of its provinces. 

From the same habit of looking on their individual leader as every 
thing and themselves as nothing, the success of an Asiatic army 
depended altogether on the character of its general. There was no 
emulation between the different bodies of the army ; no soldier dared 
to think for himself; he fought, indeed, where he was commanded, 
but if his leader fell, or was made prisoner, he fought no longer ; 
when the general fled, his army ran away ; the Asiatics were habitu- 
ated to act as mere machines, and consequently became useless when 
the moving power was destroyed. This was the fatal secret on which 
the fortune of Persia depended ; the celebrated expedition of the ten 
thousand revealed it to the Greeks, and Alexander, by availing him- 
self of the knowledge, decided the fate of the Eastern world at Issus 
and Arbela. 

The religion of the Greeks was one of the most extraordinary phe- 
nomena that the world ever witnessed ; it was formed by the poets, 
and upheld by the fine arts. To use the expressive words of an old 
philosopher, its gods were immortal men, and its men were mortal 
gods. Instead of the single attribute of brute force, the divinities of 
Greece were supposed to possess all the passions and affections of 
human nature, joined indeed with the possession of supreme power, 
but power subjected to the control of wisdom and justice. Though 
many absurdities flowed from thus attributing human characters to 
the gods, it gave a warmth and affection to their worship which pro- 
duced salutary effects. The Greek honoured his deity as his friend; 
he presented the same gifts at the altar as he would have offered to a 
fellow-mortal whose favour he wished to conciliate ; he celebrated the 
sacred festivals with songs and dances, because such things delighted 
himself and gratified all his acquaintance. By a natural transition, 
this attachment was extended to the place where the deity was wor- 
shipped, and became an additional cause of that ardent love with 
which the Greeks regarded their native land. To defend their tem- 
ples was with them a more powerful motive than to protect their fire- 
sides ; and all through this history we shall see that piety was a prin- 
cipal part of Grecian patriotism. On this account, we must expect 
to meet with religious wars and persecutions in the history of this 
people : it is enough to mention the Messenian and the two Phoecian 
wars, as instances of the inveterate hostility with which they were 
punished who presumed to offend the gods, the friends of the nation. 

Another peculiarity in the Grecian religion was, that the priest- 



36 GRECIAN IDOLATRY. 



hood was not limited to a particular family or class : it appears to 
have been, like the magistracy in the republics^ elective and tem- 
porary ; and many important services of religion were performed by 
the generals and magistrates themselves. This prevented the esta- 
blishment of a privileged class who might monopolize knowledge, as 
happened in Egypt and other countries, while, at the same time, 
it gave a character of freedom to religion which must naturally have 
been imitated in politics. 

The persecutions raised against those who insulted or were sup- 
posed to have insulted the religion of the state, do not appear in any 
instance to have been caused by the priesthood ; the Amphictyonic 
council was composed of laymen when it commenced the sacred wars ; 
Alcibiades and Socrates were accused of impiety, not by priests, but 
by factious demagogues ; they were condemned by the national tri- 
bunal, and not by an ecclesiastical inquisition. In short, the Grecian 
was a state religion only because every individual in the state felt 
interested in its preservation. 

The most striking consequence of their religion was the ardour with 
which the Greeks cultivated the fine arts. The gods were supposed 
to possess a human form, but the beauty and sublimity of their appear- 
ance was far superior to that of ordinary mortals. The poets laboured 
to describe the majesty of the deities by the most lively images. The 
painter and statuary endeavoured to imbody these conceptions on the 
canvass and in the marble. This was the origin of ideal beauty, or 
the discovery of the highest degree of perfection which the human 
form can be conceived to attain. Thus, with its religion was asso- 
ciated all that makes the name of Greece honoured by posterity ; 
epic poetry celebrated the wars of gods, and heroes descended from 
them ; the lyric writers composed hymns in their praise, and the dra- 
matic writers laboured strenuously to produce pieces worthy of being 
represented at their festivals ; poetry, painting, sculpture, music, 
were cultivated, not so much for their own excellence as for their 
connection with the service of deities, who were loved as friends while 
they were worshipped as rulers. 

All these circumstances combined to accelerate the progress of 
civilization in Greece. Athens had arrived at a pitch of refinement 
higher than Rome ever attained, when the entire West of Europe 
remained sunk in barbarism. But perhaps this very refinement may 
have been the chief cause of its ruin, by introducing a lavish expen- 
diture in matters merely ornamental, and exhausting those treasures 
on which the nation relied for its defence, in splendid buildings and 
pompous processions. 




THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES AND ORACLES. 



ESIDES the popular religion, in which all the 
Greeks participated, there were in every Gre- 
cian state certain mysteries, ceremonies of a 
secret religion, in which none but the initiated 
could participate. The nature of the doctrines 
taught in these solemnities, and the meaning 
of their rites, were covered with an impene- 
trable veil of secresy ; to divulge the hidden 
nature of these mysteries was deemed a crime 
of the greatest magnitude ; and we shall see, in 
'the course of the following history, that the bare suspicion of 
having betrayed some of the mysteries to the uninitiated pro- 
duced the banishment of Alcibiades, at the moment when his services 
were most wanted by the Athenians. It is easier to discover the origin 
and tendency than the nature and meaning of these mysterious doc- 
trines and observances : the notices scattered through ancient writers 
are brief and unsatisfactory, and modern disquisitions are too frequently 

39 




40 THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES AND ORACLES. 



founded on mere conjecture, and generally exhibit more power of 
imagination than depth of knowledge. As these mysteries, however, 
had a powerful effect on the national character, it is necessary to take 
some notice of them before we enter on the history of the people. 

All the historians concur in representing the mysteries as derived 
from some foreign source : the mysteries of Ceres, the first in interest 
and importance, were brought from Egypt by Danaus ; the secret 
rites of Bacchus were derived from Thrace, and Crete supplied those 
of the Curetes and Dactyli. Indeed, from the earliest ages, we find 
traces, in all the Eastern countries, of a religion entirely differing from 
the vulgar, confined to a particular caste, and guarded from the rest 
of mankind with the most sedulous care. We are told that " Moses 
was skilled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," by which, undoubt- 
edly, is meant that the secrets of the priesthood had been revealed to 
him as an adopted disciple of their order. The ceremonies in the 
temple of Sais, in Egypt, are declared to have been precisely the same 
as those of the Eleusinian mysteries, celebrated in honour of Ceres, at 
Eleusis, a village of Attica, and the inscription on the pedestal of 
Minerva's statue in that temple gives us a remote conception of the 
nature of the secret doctrines there taught. The inscription was : " I 
am all that is, was, and shall be : and no one has ever lifted my veil." 
From this it would seem probable that these institutions were designed 
to preserve the knowledge of the meaning attached to the symbolical 
representations of the divinities, together with the traditions of the 
origin of the world and of the deities themselves. 

After the epic poets had systematized the mythology of Greece, 
the knowledge of the religion originally introduced from Egypt and 
Asia would have totally perished but for the mysteries, and it is 
doubtful if even they were sufficient for its preservation. Homer 
does not mention them, because in his time the religion of the vulgar 
and that of the instructed was the same ; but when his fables and 
those of Hesiod became the source whence the populace derived their 
religious knowledge, the mysteries suddenly rose into importance, and 
were deemed objects of the highest national concern. But in process 
of time these secret doctrines probably degenerated into empty forms 
and unmeaning ritual ; they were more honoured for their antiquity 
than valued for their importance, after Athens had been subjugated 
by the Romans ; but, like many secret societies in Europe, they con- 
tinued to exist in name long after their power had been destroyed. 

But the mysteries of ancient Greece inspired more reverential awe 
in the minds of the multitude than any modern institutions of a 
similar nature ever produced. The doctrines and the nature of the 



THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES AND ORACLES. 41 



ceremonies were revealed only to the initiated, but tlie ceremonies 
themselves were public ; no one but a member could take a part in the 
festivals and processions : no one was excluded from being a spectator. 
While the multitude was permitted to gaze at these exhibitions, to 
increase the splendour of which all the resources of art were ex- 
hausted, they learned to believe that there was something more 
sublime revealed to the initiated, and their ignorance of its nature 
only served to increase their awe and admiration. Thus the public 
worship inspired love for the divinities, while the private religion 
filled the mind with reverence, and both combined to elevate the 
national character, by freeing it from the servile adoration of the 
Asiatic and the stern political religion of the Romans. 

In all ages, the eager desire of men to penetrate futurity has led to 
unnumbered superstitions, which the artful and designing have per- 
verted to their own purposes. Even in our own day, a belief in 
omens and in dreams still continues to exist in the minds of the un- 
educated; all the accidental coincidences are carefully treasured up 
as instances of the certainty of prognostic, while the far more nume- 
rous instances of failure are forgotten. When such absurdity con- 
tinues to exist even in this enlightened age, we can easily imagine 
that men in the commencement of society would be much more 
easily duped by pretensions to foreknowledge : if fortune-tellers 
find dupes even amid all the light and knowledge of the nineteenth 
century, we may readily believe that a crafty priesthood could 
impose on the world when they monopolized all the little learning 
that existed. 

L Of all the modes of divination practised in Greece, that of oracles 
was the most important, and produced the greatest effect on the 
nation. No enterprise of consequence was undertaken until the will 
of the gods had been inquired at the holy shrines : expeditions were 
undertaken or laid aside according to the responses delivered by the 
priest or priestess in the name of the deity./ The first, and, in the 
earlier ages of Gfreece, the most important oracle was that of Jupiter, 
at Dodona. It is said by some to have existed in the time of 
Deucalion, but others, with more probability, assign its origin to a 
later period. Two Egyptian pi'iestesses that were carried off by 
Phoenician merchants from Thebes in Egypt were sold as slaves, the 
one in Libya, and the other in Epirus ; their superior knowledge 
enabled them to impose on the credulity of the natives, and at length 
they were enabled to establish the oracle of Jupiter at Dodona, and 
that of Ammon in Libya. This simple account became by tradition 
a very wonderful story ; it was said that two black doves, sent by 



42 THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES AND ORACLES. 



Jupiter, had flown into these countries, and, addressing the inhabitants 
in human voice, foretold of future events. 

But the fame of the Dodonean oracle was eclipsed bj that of Del- 
phi ; Jupiter continued to be considered as the great author of pro- 
phecy, but Apollo was looked upon as its most lucid interpreter. The 
discovery of the Delphic oracle is said to have originated in accident : 
a shepherd on Mount Parnassus observed that when his goats ap- 
proached a particular fissure in the mountains, they were seized with 
extraordinary convulsions, and agitated by a species of delirium. 
Anxious to examine the cause of this phenomenon, he approached the 
fissure, and scarcely had he breathed the exhalation which issued 
from it, when he was seized with frenzy, and uttered words of strange 
import. The matter became noised abroad, a temple was built over 
the place, and a priestess, named Pythia, appointed to deliver oracles 
from a tripod placed over the fissure. Iler words were then put into 
hexameter verse by some poets kept in attendance for the purpose. 
The verses, however, were so bad that it was commonly said, " The 
god of poetry is the worst of poets." The magnificent situation of 
the temple in the recesses of Mount Parnassus, the two gigantic 
peaks of the mountain, and the savage defiles which led to the sacred 
city, contributed in no small degree to the fame of the oracle. It 
seemed a spot which nature itself had marked out and hallowed for a 
nation's worship : no one could approach the sacred precincts without 
being deeply impressed by feelings of reverence and awe. 

The fame of the oracle of Delphi soon eclipsed all the others ; its 
celebrity spread not merely through Greece, but extended to Western 
Asia, and the northern shores of Africa and Italy. Its responses, 
veiled in studied obscurity, could in general be interpreted so as to 
seem to have foretold the event, whichever way it turned out, as in 
the celebrated answer to Pyrrhus : 

" Aio te, jEacida, Romanos vincere posse." 

Which may be translated, either that Pyrrhus would vanquish the 
Romans, or that they would conquer him. But obscurity was not the 
only means by which the credit of the oracle was maintained ; the very 
belief in its power had a tendency to perpetuate itself, for those in whose 
favour an oracle had been uttered deemed themselves invincible, as 
being under the special protection of heaven, while those against 
whom the Pythia had decided were proportionably dispirited. 

As the Greeks became more enlightened, the influence of the 
Delphic oracle decreased ; an insult off'ered to the shrine of the Plio- 
cians produced both the sacred wars, but it is easy to see from 



THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES AND ORACLES. 43 



the history, that in the interval between them, men's minds had un- 
dergone a great alteration : in the first, a desire to avenge the pro- 
faned temple was both the real and professed motive of the assailants ; 
in the second, religion was the ostensible pretext, but we can clearly 
see that it was nothing more than a pretext. Even among the 
Athenians the most superstitious of all the Grecian states, Demos- 
thenes did not hesitate to say, "The Pythia philippizes," boldly 
asserting that the oracles were not inspired by Apollo, but purchased 
by Philip. After the extinction of Grecian liberty, the Delphic 
oracle still held on a lingering existenc^, and its decline was so gra- 
dual, that it is impossible to discover aft what time it became totally 
silent. 

The oracle of Apollo at Delos was as highly honoured, though not 
so celebrated, as that of Delphi. Thither the Athenians annually 
sent a sacred ship called Paralus, and from the moment of her sailing 
until her return, it was unlawful to put any criminal to death. The 
oracle of Trophonius in Lebadeia was also celebrated, chiefly indeed 
from the jugglery of the priests, who introduced the visitants into a 
cave, and exhibited such terrifying sights as usually dispirited them 
for the rest of their lives : hence, " to have visited the cave of Tro- 
phonius," was a phrase proverbially applied to all persons of a dark 
and gloomy disposition. 

The faith in oracles, though it in some degree tended to inspire a 
reverence for the deities, yet on the whole produced injurious effects. 
While they met with general credence, a belief in fatalism was 
naturally produced, which damped the energies of those to whom 
danger was threatened, and gave their adversaries spurious confidence, 
rather than true courage. The deception, though admirably managed, 
could not be concealed for ever ; party feeling, but more frequently 
avarice, induced the priests to pass judgments dictated by their pre- 
judice or their interest ; and when these were falsified by events, the 
credit of the oracle was shaken to the foundation. After the con- 
clusion of the first Peloponnesian war, we meet with several instances 
of generals who made it their boast that they disregarded omens, 
prodigies, and oracles. Epaminondas was especially remarkable for 
his disregard of all such quackery, and answered his superstitious 
monitors with that well-known verse of Homer, — 

His sword the brave man draws, 
And usks no omen but his country's cause. 

The Athenian philosophers contributed much to shake the credit pre- 
viously given to these supposed declarations of the divine will ; and 



44 



THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES AND ORACLES. 



thougli oracles continued to be consulted, yet they appear to have lost 
all political influence before the age of Alexander. 

Still the temples of Dodona and Delphi were not entirely useless : 
they kept up a spirit of nationality among the diff'erent branches of 
the Hellenic race ; for these temples were not considered the pro- 
perty of the Thesprotians or Phocians, but of all those of Greek 
descent, in whatever part of the world they resided. Delphi espe- 
cially was to the Greeks what Jerusalem was to the Jews, and Mecca 
is to the Mohammedans, a national temple, in whose preservation all 
are interested, because all have been accustomed to regard it with 
veneration. The guardiansh!|) of these sanctuaries being intrusted 
to the Amphictyonic council, a connecting link was formed between 
the government and the popular religion ; and at the same time the 
pilgrimages made from Greece and the most remote colonies, by 
bringing together representatives of all the remote branches of the 
Hellenic family, reminded them that they were one race and one 
people. 

The right of consulting the oracles belonged almost exclusively to 
the Greeks, though some foreign princes, especially the Lydian mo- 
narchs, were permitted to seek responses and offer presents. But 
the meanest state of Grecian origin and the humblest individual of 
Grecian descent had the privilege of visiting the shrine, and seeking 
the information which he was taught to believe a benignant deity 
had particularly provided for all the descendants of Hellen. 






PUBLIC GAMES AND FESTIVALS OF THE GREEKS. 

ONE of the Grecian institutions tended more 
to unite the different branches of the Hellenic 
family into one nation than the public games 
which were celebrated at stated intervals. 
Of these there were four, the Olympic, the 
Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian. 
•^y&^l The general design of all the games was the 
same : it was to display bodily and mental ex- 
cellence, to excite emulation by rewarding merit, and to afford oppor- 
tunities for the exhibition of every thing that tended to exalt the 
national character. They rose gradually into importance : in the 
time of Homer, they were neglected so much that the poet takes no 
notice of their existence ; but in the space of about two centuries 
they had arrived at such a height of fame, that the victors were cele- 
brated by Pindar, and a crown obtained at the Olympic games was 
deemed the greatest of mortal honours. The painters and sculptors 
sent the best specimens of their art to Olympia ; poets, orators, and 
historians recited portions of their works in these national assemblies ; 
and all the vocal and instrumental performers who had any skill in 
music were eager to have their fame sanctioned by the approbation 
of the Olympic judges. 

47 



48 PUBLIC GAMES AND FESTIVALS. 



The Idsei Dactyli are said to have instituted the Olympic games ; 
they were revived by Hercules, but having again fallen into neglect, 
they were re-established by Iphitus, B. c. 884, who ordained that they 
should be regularly celebrated every fifth year. The intervals be- 
tween these festivals were called olympiads, and by them the Greeks 
computed time : they reckoned, however, not from their institution 
or re-establishment, but from the victory of Coroebus, b. c. 776, which, 
though always counted the first, was really the twenty-eighth olym- 
piad. This mode of ascertaining dates continued to be used until the 
364th olympiad, A. D. 440, when the Christian era was substituted 
in its stead. 

The athletic exercises used in these games were five, viz. leaping, 
running, throwing, which was performed with javelins, arrows, quoits, 
&c., and wrestling, which seems also to have included boxing. The 
other exercises were horse and chariot-races, of diiferent kinds, but 
alike in deciding the victory more from the skill of the rider or cha- 
rioteer than by the strength or swiftness of the horses. 

The contests between musicians, artists, poets, &c. were secondary 
objects in the Olympic games, but formed the principal part of the 
Pythian. The latter were celebrated every fifth year at the Delphi, 
and are said to have been instituted by Apollo, in honour of his 
victory over the serpent Python. 

The Nemean games were celebrated every third year at Nemea, a 
village in Argolis : they are said by some to have been instituted in 
commemoration of the destruction of the Nemean lion by Hercules ; 
but the more general account is that they were funeral games in 
memory of Archemorus. 

The Isthmian games, so named from the place of their celebration, 
the Corinthian isthmus, were instituted in memory of Melicertes, 
the son of Athamas and Ino. These games were considered so sacred, 
that they were not permitted to be laid aside even in consequence of 
a public calamity. 

The rewards at the public games were chiefly honorary : the Olym- 
pic victor was crowned with laurel ; the Pythian received a chaplet 
made of some fruit-tree ; the Nemean and Isthmian conquerors re- 
ceived crowns made of parsley, that of the former being green, and 
that of the latter withered. But though no pecuniary reward was 
given at the games, almost every state in Greece settled pensions on 
any of their citizens who had been so fortunate as to obtain prizes. 

The similarity between these games and the tournaments of the 
middle ages appears at first very striking, but a little consideration 
will show that they were institutions of a totally different nature. 



PUBLIC GAMES AND FESTIVALS. 49 



The exercises of chivalry were confined to a particular class of society ; 
no person of obscure family was allowed to share in them, and they 
were entirely of a martial character. The meanest Greek might con- 
tend at the Olympic games, but the most powerful monarch who was 
not of Hellenic descent could not become a candidate. They were 
designed to display the glory of the Greek nation, and this they ef- 
fected by exhibiting every thing which could excite admiration ; bodily 
strength and skill in manly excellence, the splendour of opulence, as 
displayed in the rich equipages that contended in the chariot-race ; 
intellectual excellence of every description, poetry, oratory, painting, 
sculpture, and music. 

The government of these games was confided to the people in 
whose vicinity they were celebrated ; but some control appears to 
have been exercised over them by the Amphictyonic council. There 
were several assemblies of this kind, which have all been forgotten in 
the superior celebrity of that which met at Delphi and Thermopylae. 
In general, the characteristics of these assemblies were, first, that 
several states should form a federative union, and agree to send depu- 
ties to debate on matters of common interest ; secondly, that the 
meetings should be held in a temple or sanctuary ; and thirdly, that 
the time of their assembly should by celebrated as a festival, by 
games and processions. They appear to have been instituted at a 
time when Greece was divided into tribes, and before the cities be- 
came of importance. Hence their weight in preventing civil war 
among the Greeks was lost, when individual states, such Athens, or 
Sparta, began to struggle for eminence. In fact, after the termina- 
tion of the Persian war, the Amphictyonic council became to the 
Greeks what the Diet is to the Germans, a national council, that 
preserved a certain feeling of brotherhood, though it did not possess 
any real political influence. Athens and Sparta no more referred 
the decision of their disputes to the assembly at Delphi, than Austria 
and Prussia to the congress at Ratisbon ; still they entertained a cer- 
tain respect for the great national council, and observed certain 
regulations, even in war, which had been instituted by the Am- 
phictyons. 

From these assemblies originated the rules observed in civilized 
warfare, which form so important a part of the law of nations. This 
will appear if we consider some of the clauses in the ancient Am- 
phictyonic oath : the deputies swore, in the name of the states they 
represented, "never to destroy an Amphictyonic city; not to deprive 
them of water, whether in war or peace ; to punish any city that 
violated these laws ; to protect the worship of the god, and the safety 

4 



50 



PUBLIC GAMES AND FESTIVALS, 



of his sanctuary, to the utmost of their power." In the course of the 
following history we shall find these principles regarded, even in the 
fiercest domestic wars, and shall see that, though the national festivals 
and national councils could not prevent disunion, they still hindered 
the Greeks from forgetting, in the midst of discord, that they were all 
brethren of the same race. 

If we contrast the wars of the Romans in Italy with the Pelopon- 
nesian wars, we shall see more clearly the efiect of these feelings. 
Rome increased not merely by the conquest, but by the destruction 
of the neighbouring cities ; cruelty to the vanquished was in Italy 
the rule, and in Greece the exception. "I cannot refuse quarter 
when I hear it asked in my native tongue," was the expression of a 
Swiss soldier in the thirty years' war. It was a natural feeling, but 
it was one that must have been peculiarly influential on a Greek, 
whom every public institution tended to inspire with national pride 
and national affection. 





THE TROJAN WAR. 




WELVE centuries before the birth of our Saviour, a 
flourishing state had arisen on the eastern side of the 
Hellespont. Its capital was Troy ; and Hercules, with 
the assistance of Telamon, son of ^acus, had captured 
it, but had restored it to Priam, the son of its conquered 
king, Laomedon. Priam reigned there in peace and 
prosperity over a number of little tribes, until his son Paris, attracted, 
it is said, by the fame of Helen's beauty, came to Laconia, and, 
abusing the hospitality of Menelaus, carried off his queen to Troy. 
This aroused the choler of the chiefs of Greece, and they combined 
their forces, under the command of Agamemnon, to avenge the out- 
rage. They sailed with a large armament to Troy, and after a siege 
of ten years, took and destroyed the city, b, c. 1184. 

By some writers the tradition of the Trojan war has been called 
into question. This has, doubtless, arisen from the circumstance of 
its being surrounded with poetic ornament. Setting this aside, how- 
ever, 'there appears to be no ground for skepticism ; for it was uni- 
versally received in Greece as a leading event in their early history. 
Not that it can be supposed that the abduction of Helen was the 
cause of the Trojan war ; it would rather appear that the Argonautic 
expedition was the real occasion of the first conflict between the 

51 



52 THE TROJAN WAR. 



Greeks and Trojans ; for it is inconsistent with the piratical habits 
of the early navigators to suppose that their intercourse was always 
of a friendly nature. The fact of the city having been taken and 
sacked by Hercules nearly a century before, proves that it had al- 
ready provoked or tempted the cupidity of the Greeks ; and it may 
readily be imagined that a revival of its power and opulence would 
again excite the same feelings. Notwithstanding, Paris may have 
retaliated upon the Greeks for the previous sack of Troy — may have 
undertaken a marauding expedition against Laconia, and thereby have 
called their ancient enmity into action, so as to arm the confederated 
chiefs against the Trojan power. That there was a mutual and fixed 
hatred between the two powers is evident from the account of the war. 
Throughout the whole of the Iliad, they are represented as panting 
for, and as executing, vengeance on each other. Although, therefore, 
the facts of the war are highly coloured by the genius of the poet, 
yet that such a war occurred cannot be doubted. 

Among the distorted features of the poetic narrative may be men- 
tioned the affirmed result of the war : namely, that the Trojan state 
was overturned by the confederated Grecian chiefs. Although it ap- 
pears clear that the expedition accomplished its immediate object, yet 
it is equally clear that a Trojan state existed after the fall of Troy. 
Homer himself indirectly confirms this ; for he introduces Poseidon 
predicting that the posterity of-3lIneas should long continue to reign 
over the Trojans, after the race of Priam should be extinct. More 
explicit testimony, however, is discovered, in the pages of Xanthus, 
the Lydian, who is an historian of great authority, both from his age 
and country. He relates that the Trojan state was finally destroyed 
by the invasion of the Phrygians, a Thracian tribe, which crossed over 
from Europe to Asia after the Trojan war. 

To the conquerors, the remote consequences of the war were little 
less disastrous than its immediate result was to the vanquished. Of 
five Boeotian commanders only one remained ; and the siege had been 
proportionably fatal to the leaders of other tribes, as well as to their 
followers. Those, also, who lived to divide the spoils of Troy were 
impatient to set sail with their newly acquired treasures, notwithstand- 
ing the threatening aspect of the skies, and many of them perished 
by shipwreck, while the rest were long tossed on unknown seas. Even 
when they landed, and expected to find in their native country the 
end of their calamities, they were exposed to greater than any which 
they had yet endured. The thrones of several of the absent chiefs 
had been usurped by violence and ambition ; the lands of various 
communities had been occupied by the invasion of hostile tribes; and 



THE TROJAN WAR. 53 



even the least unfortunate of the adventurers found their domains 
uncultivated, or their territories laid waste — their families torn by 
discord, or their cities shaken by sedition. The most celebrated com- 
bined enterprise of Greece tended to plunge the country into barba- 
rism and misery. 

Such is the history of the heroic age ; or, as it may perhaps more 
properly be termed, the mythical period. More might have been 
offered to the reader ; but, as truth should form the basis of history, 
only that which bears at least the semblance of truth, culled from the 
regions of poetry, has been adduced ; and even of that it may be said, 
its veracity cannot be asserted. The Greeks, of later ages, were pro- 
verbially mendacious ; and, in the heroic age, they appear to have 
been wholly given to romance. It would seem that they were per- 
mitted to work good or evil, as their imaginations or inclinations might 
lead them. It was, in truth, one of the darkest ages in the annals 
of the Greeks. 





LYCURGUS AND HIS LAWS. 




I HE city of Sparta, called also Lacedgemon, a name pro- 
perly belonging to the suburbs, was built on a series of 
hills, whose outlines are varied and romantic, along the 
right bank of the Eurotas, within sight of the chain of 
Mount Taygetum. We have already mentioned, that it was not 
originally surrounded by walls ; but the highest of its eminences 
served as a citadel, and round this hill were ranged five towns, sepa- 
rated by considerable intervals, occupied by the five Spartan tribes. 
The great square or forum, in which the principal streets of these 
towns terminated, was embellished with temples and statues: it con- 
tained also the edifices in which the senate, the ephori, and other 
bodies of Spartan magistrates, were accustomed to assemble : there 
was, besides, a splendid portico, erected by the Spartans from their 
share of the spoils taken at the battle of Platiea, where the Persians 
were finally overthrown. Instead of being supported by pillars, the 
roof rested on gigantic statues, representing Persians habited in 
flowing robes. 

On the highest of the eminences stood a temple of Minerva, which, 
as well as the grove that surrounded it, had the privileges of an asy- 
lum. It was built of brass, as that at Delphi had formerly been. 

54 



LYCURGUS AND HIS LAWS. 55 



The greater part of these edifices had no pretensions to architec- 
tural beauty; they were of rude workmanship, and destitute of 
ornament. Private houses were small and unadorned ; for the Spar- 
tans spent the greater part of their time in porticoes and public halls. 
On the south side of the city was the Hippodromos, or course for 
horse and foot races ; and, at a little distance from that, the Plata- 
nistffi, or place of exercise for youth, shaded by beautiful palm-trees. 

The Dorian conquerors of Laconia formed themselves into a per- 
manent ruling caste, and r^uced the greater part of the inhabitants 
of the country to a state of vassalage, or rather perfect slavery. 
During two centuries the Spartans were engaged in tedious wars with 
the Argives, and their state was agitated by domestic broils, result- 
ing from the unequal division of property, the ambition of rival 
nobles, and the diminished power of the kings. At length, Lycurgus, 
having obtained the supreme authority, as a guardian of his nephew 
Charilaus, directed his attention to establishing a system of law, 
which might prevent the recurrence of such disorders. The legisla- 
tion of Lycurgus was not a written code ; and many things of later 
origin have been erroneously attributed to this lawgiver. His great 
object was to insure the continuance of the Spartans as a dominant 
military caste, by perpetuating a race of athletic and warlike men ; 
and hence his laws referred rather to domestic life and physical edu- 
cation, than to the constitution of the state or the form of its govern- 
ment. 

He continued the relation of caste between the Spartans and Laco- 
nians, and the double line of kings as leaders in war and first magis- 
trates in peace. He is said to have instituted the gerusia, or senate, 
of which no one could be a member who had not passed the age of 
sixty ; but it is uncertain whether he founded the college of the five 
ephori, or inspectors, chosen annually, with powers somewhat similar 
to those of the Roman tribunes : he certainly did not invest them 
with the power they assumed in later ages. There were also popular 
assemblies ; but they could originate no law, nor make any alteration 
in the resolutions submitted to them by the kings and the senate, 
their power being confined to a simple approbation or rejection. 

The chief regulations in private life were, the equal distribution of 
lands, the removal of every species of luxury, the arrangement of 
domestic relations so as to insure a race of hardy citizens, and the 
complete establishment of slavery. Thus a military commonwealth 
was established in Greece, which for ever banished a chance of tran- 
quillity ; since the Spartan citizens must have been impelled to war 
by the restlessness common to man, when all the occupations of 



56 



LYCURGUS AND HIS LAWS. 



household life and of agriculture were intrusted to the care of the 
helots, as their slaves were usually called. The strength of the 
Spartan army lay in its heavy-armed infantry ; they usually fought 
in a phalanx or close column, and were remarkable for the skill and 
rapidity of their evolutions. They marched to the charge with a 
regular, measured step, and never broke their ranks either to plunder 
or pursue a flying enemy. After battle, every soldier was obliged 
to produce his shield, as a proof that he had behaved bravely and 
steadily: • 





EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES, THE MESSENIAN 

HERO. 

REAT deeds abound in the history of Greece ; 
but among all her remarkable men, none seems 
to have encountered more extraordinary vicis- 
situdes than Aristomenes, who so long, by his 
indomitable corn-age and perseverance, enabled 
his countrymen to resist the assaults of the 
Lacedaemonians. I have selected from Mitford 
Bome of his most striking adventures. In reading them, we cannot 
but regret that such glorious deeds should have proved insufficient to 
save his country from ruin, and his compatriots from either flying 
into exile, or permanently becoming the helots (bond-slaves) of their 

57 




58 EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 



cruel enemies. His career commenced after liis countrymen had 
once submitted to the Lacedaemonians. 

During near forty years, says Mitford, Messenia remained in quiet 
subjection. Those of its unfortunate people who submitted to the 
Lacedaemonian terms, chose the least among evils presenting them- 
selves, and rested under their hard lot. But the succeeding genera- 
tion, unexperienced in the calamities of war, unexperienced in the 
comparative strength of themselves and their conquerors, yet insti- 
gated by a share of that irresistible spirit of independency which at 
this time so remarkably pervaded Greece, and buoyed up by that 
hope of fortunate contingencies so natural, in adversity, to generous 
minds, could not brook the comparison of their own circumstances 
with those of all other Greeks. Their subjection was indeed too 
severe and too humiliating to be by any possibility borne with satis- 
faction, yet not sufficiently depressing to insure the continuance of 
quiet submission. A leader, therefore, only was wanting of reputa- 
tion to attract and concentrate the materials of the rising storm, and 
it would burst with energy. 

Such a leader appeared in Aristomenes, a youth whose high natural 
spirit was still elevated by the opinion of his descent from Hercules 
through a long race'of Messenian kings. When, therefore, others 
were proposing a revolt, Aristomenes was foremost to act in it. 
Persons were sent privately to the former allies of the state, the Ar- 
gians and the Arcadians, to inquire what assistance might be expected 
from them. Very favourable promises being received, Aristomenes 
and his party immediately attacked a body of Lacedaemonians at 
Dera;. A very obstinate action ensued, which terminated without 
victory to either party ; yet the Messenians were so satisfied with 
the behaviour of Aristomenes, that they would have raised him to the 
throne. He prudently refused that invidious honour, but accepted 
the office of commander-in-chief of the forces. 

The first adventure related of this hero after his elevation sounds 
romantic ; but the age was romantic, and his situation required no 
common conduct. Aristomenes well knew the power of superstitious 
fear among his contemporaries, and he formed a project to serve his 
country through its operation. There was at Sparta a temple called 
the brazen house, dedicated to Minerva, and held in singular vene- 
ration. Aristomenes entered that city alone by night, which was not 
difficult, as there were neither walls nor watch, and the less danger- 
ous as no Grecian towns were lighted, and the Lacedicmonian insti- 
tutions forbade to carry lights. Secure, therefore, in obscurity, he 
suspended against the brazen house a shield, with an inscription do- 



EXPLOITS OF AKISTOMENES. 59 



daring that Aristomenes, from the spoils of Sparta, dedicated that 
shield to the goddess. Nothing the early Greeks dreaded more than that 
their enemies should win from them the favour of a deity under whose 
peculiar protection they imagined their state to have been placed by 
the piety of their forefathers. The Lacedeemonians were so alarmed, 
that they sent to inquire of the Delphian oracle what was to be done. 
The answer of the Pythoness was well considered for the safety of 
the oracle's reputation, but rather embarrassing to the Lacedaemo- 
nians ; it directed them to take an Athenian for their counsellor. 

An embassy was accordingly sent to Athens. But here, too, some 
embarrassment arose : for the Athenians, far from desirous that the 
finest province of Peloponnesus should become for ever annexed to 
the dominion of Sparta, dared not yet directly oppose the oracle. 
They took, therefore, a middle way ; and, in obeying, hoped to make 
their obedience useless. They sent a man named Tyrtasus, who, 
among the lowest of the people, had exercised the profession of a 
schoolmaster ; little known of course, but supposed of no abilities 
for any purpose of the Lacedgemonians, and lame of one leg. 

There is something in these circumstances so little consonant to 
modern history, that they are apt, at first view, to bear an appear- 
ance both of fable and of insignificancy ; but they come so far authen- 
ticated to us, that it is impossible not to give them some credit. It 
was partly from the admired works of Tyrtssus himself, fragments of 
which remain to us, that historians afterward collected their account 
of the Messenian affairs ; and it is still common, we know, for cir- 
cumstances in themselves the most trifling to have consequences the 
most important. 

The Messenian army was now reinforced by Argian, Arcadian, 
Sicyonian, and Eleian auxiliaries ; and Messenian refugees, from 
various foreign parts, came in with eager zeal to attach themselves 
once more to the fortune of their former country. These combined 
forces met the Lacedeemonian army, which had received succour from 
Corinth only, at Caprusema. The exertions of Aristomenes in the 
battle which ensued are said to have exceeded all belief of what one 
man could do. A complete victory was gained by the Messenians, 
with so terrible a slaughter of the Lacedaemonians, that it was in 
consequence debated at Sparta whether a negotiation for peace should 
not immediately be opened. On this occasion, great efi"ects are attri- 
buted to the poetry of Tyrtseus, and probably not without foundation. 
We know that even in these cultivated times, and in the extensive 
states of modern Europe, a popular song can sometimes produce con- 
siderable consequences. Then, it was a species of oratory suited 



60 EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 



beyond all other to the genius of the age. Tyrtseus reanimated the 
drooping minds of the Spartan people. It was thought expedient to 
recruit the number of citizens by enfranchising and associating some 
helots. The measure was far from popular, but the poetry of Tyr- 
taeus persuaded the people to acquiesce ; and it was determined still 
to prosecute the war with all possible vigour. 

Aristomenes meanwhile was endeavouring to push the advantage 
he had gained ; he did not venture a regular invasion of Laconia, 
but he carried the war thither by incursion. He surprised the town 
of Pharse, bore away a considerable booty, and routed Anaxander, 
king of Sparta, who had planted an ambush to intercept his return. 
In another irruption, he took the town of Caryge ; and, among other 
plunder, led off a number of Spartan virgins, who had assembled there ■ 
to celebrate, according to custom, the festival of Diana. Pausanias 
relates to his honour, on this occasion, a strong instance of the strict- 
ness both of his discipline and of his morality. On his appointment 
to the command in chief, he had selected a band of young Messenians, 
mostly of rank, who attended him, and fought by his side in all his 
enterprises. The Spartan virgins taken at Caryne being intrusted to 
a guard from this body, the young men, heated with wine, attempted 
to force their chastity. Aristomenes immediately interfered ; but 
finding it in vain that he represented to them how they dishonoured 
the name of Grecians by attempts so abhorrent from what the laws 
and customs of their country approved, he laid the most refractory 
with his own hand dead upon the spot ; after which he restored the 
girls to their parents. 

Among the extraordinary adventures of our present hero, we find 
it related, that in an attempt upon the town of Jiigila, he was made 
prisoner by some Spartan matrons assembled there for the celebration 
of a festival ; who, trained as they were under the institutions of 
Lycurgus, repelled the attack with a vigour which the men of other 
states could scarcely exceed. Here the softer passions, it is said, 
befriended him. Archidameia, priestess of Ceres, becoming ena- 
moured of him, procured his escape. 

It was now the third year of the war, when the Lacedaemonian and 
Messenian forces met at Megaletaphrus ; the latter strengthened by 
their Arcadian allies only, whose leader, Aristocrates, Prince of 
Orchomenus, was secretly in the Lacedaemonian interest. On the 
first onset this traitor gave the signal to his own troops for a retreat, 
which he artfully conducted so as to disturb the order also of the 
Messenian forces. The Lacedaemonians, prepared for this event, 
seized the opportunity to gain the flank of their enemy. Aristomenes 



EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 61 



made some vain eiForts to prevent a rout ; but his army was presently, 
for the most part, surrounded and cut to pieces ; and he was himself 
fortunate in being able to make good his retreat with a miserable 
remnant. 

The Messenians had not now the resources of an established govern- 
ment. A single defeat induced constant necessity for resorting to 
the measure practised by Euphaes in the former war. Again quitting 
all their inland posts, they collected their force at Eira, a strong 
situation near the sea, and prepared by all means in their power for 
vigorous defence. The Lacedaemonians, as was foreseen, presently 
sat down before the place ; but the Messenians were still strong 
enough to keep a communication open with their ports of Pylus and 
Methone. 

The enterprising spirit of Aristomenes, indeed, was not to be broken 
by misfortune. Even in the present calamitous situation of his 
country's affairs, he would not confine himself to defensive war. 
With his chosen band he made irruptions from Eira, pillaged all the 
neighbouring country on the side occupied by the Lacedaemonians, 
and even ventured into Laconia, where he plundered the town of 
Amyclae. His expeditions were so well concerted, and his band so 
small and so light, that he was genei'ally within the walls of Eira 
again before it was known in the Spartan camp that any place was 
attacked. The business of a siege commonly, in those times, was 
extremely slow. The usual hope of the besiegers was to reduce the 
place by famine. But this was now a vain hope to the Lacedaemo- 
nians, while Aristomenes could thus supply the garrison. The govern- 
ment of Sparta, therefore, finding their army ineffectual to prevent 
this relief, proceeded to the extremity of forbidding, by a public edict, 
all culture of the conquered part of Messenia. Probably the Lace- 
deemonian affairs were at this time ill administered both in the army 
and at home. Great discontents, we are told, broke out at Sparta, 
and the government was again beholden to the lame Athenian poet 
for composing the minds of the people. 

But the temper of Aristomenes was too daring, and his enterprises 
too hazardous, to be long exempt from misfortune. His scene of 
action was not extensive, so that in time the Lacedgemonians neces- 
sarily learned, by their very losses, the means of putting a stop to 
them. He fell in unexpectedly with a large body of Lacedemonian 
troops, headed by both the kings. His retreat was intercepted ; and, 
in making an obstinate defence, being stunned by a blow on the head, 
he was taken prisoner with about fifty of his band. The Lacedismo- 
nians, considering all as rebels, condemned them, without distinction, 



62 EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 



to be precipitated into a cavern called Ceada, the common capital 
punishment at Sparta for the worst malefactors. All are said to 
have been killed by the fall except Aristomenes, whose survival was 
thought so wonderful, that miracles have been invented to account 
for it. An eagle, it is reported, fluttering under him, so far supported 
him that he arrived at the bottom unhurt. How far such miraculous 
assistance was necessary to his preservation, we cannot certainly 
know ; but the plain circumstances of the story, though extraordinary, 
have, as far as appears, nothing contrary to nature. Aristomenes at 
first thought it no advantage to find himself alive in that dark and 
horrid charnel, surrounded by his companions dead and dying, among 
the skeletons and putrid carcasses of former criminals. He retreated 
to the farthest corner that he could find, and, covering his head with 
his cloak, lay down to wait for death, which seemed unavoidable. It 
was, according to Pausanias, the third day of this dreadful imprison- 
ment, when he was startled by a little rustling noise. Rising and 
uncovering his eyes, he saw by the glimmering of light, which assisted 
him the more from his having been so long wrapped in perfect dark- 
ness, a fox gnawing the dead bodies. It presently struck him that 
this animal must have found some other way into the cavern than 
that by which himself had descended, and would readily find the 
same way out again. Watching, therefore, his opportunity, he was 
fortunate enough to seize the fox with one hand, Avhile with his cloak 
in the other he prevented it from biting him ; and he managed so as 
to let it have its way, Avithout escaping, until it conducted him to a 
narrow burrow. Through this he followed till it became too small for 
his body to pass, and here, fortunately, a glimpse of daylight caught 
his eye. Setting, therefore, his conductor at liberty, he worked with 
his hands till he made a passage large enough for himself to creep 
into day, and he escaped to Eira. 

Among the many escapes from almost certain death which history 
records, there is scarcely a more remarkable one than this. It has 
attracted attention from poets and artists, as well as historians ; and 
it certainly may serve to "point the moral," that even in the most 
discouraging circumstances a brave spirit never despairs of its destiny. 




Siege of Eira. 



SIEGE OF EIRA— LAST EXPLOITS OF 
ARISTOMENES. 




HE first rumour of this reappearance of Aristomenes 
found no credit at Sparta. Preparations were making 
for pushing the siege of Eira with vigour, and a body 
of Corinthian auxiliaries was marching to share in the 
honour of completing the conquest of Messenia. Aris- 
tomenes, receiving intelligence that the Corinthians marched and 
encamped very negligently, as if they had no enemy to fear, issued 
with a chosen body from Eira, attacked them by surprise in the 
night, routed them with great slaughter, and carried off the plunder 
of their camp. Now, says Pausanias, the Lacedaemonians readily 
believed that Aristomenes was really living. Tradition says that 
this extraordinary warrior thrice sacrificed the Hecatomphoneia, the 
offering prescribed among the Greeks for those who had slain in 
battle a hundred enemies with their own hands. It was after this 
action that he performed that ceremony the second time. 

The Lacedaemonians now, for the sake of celebrating in security 
their festival called Hyacinthia, which was approaching, consented to 
a truce for forty days. Pausanias, who is not favourable to their 
fame, reports that they encouraged some Cretan mercenaries in their 
service to watch opportunities for striking a blow against the Messe- 



64 LAST EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 



nians, even during the truce ; that Aristomenes was actually seized 
in consequence, and recovered his liberty only through the favour of 
a young woman in the house where he was lodged, who cut his bonds, 
and procured him the means of slaying his keepers. 

Through the unskilfulness of the age in the attack of places, and 
the varied efforts of Aristomenes' genius to baffle the besiegers, the 
siege, or rather blockade, of Eira was protracted to the eleventh year. 
A concurrence of circumstances, seemingly trifling, but which, in the 
detail of them by Pausanias, form an important lesson for military 
men, at length decided its fate. In a violently tempestuous night, 
intelligence was brought to the Lacedfemonian commander, by a pri- 
vate soldier whom an intrigue with a Messenian woman had led to the 
discovery, that the Messenian guard at one of their posts, yielding to 
the weather, and trusting that the storm itself would prevent their 
enemies from acting, had dispersed to seek shelter. Immediately the 
troops were silently called to arms ; ladders were carried to the spot, 
and the Lacedtemonians mounted unresisted. The unusually earnest 
and incessant barking of their dogs first alarmed the garrison. Aris- 
tomenes, always watchful, hastily formed the first of his people that 
he could collect. lie presently met the enemy, and managed his 
defence so judiciously, as well as vigorously, that the Lacedi"emonians, 
ignorant of the town, could not, during the night, attempt any further 
progress. But neither could Aristomenes attempt more than to keep 
the enemy at bay, while the rest of his people, arming and forming 
themselves, made use of their intimate knowledge of the place to 
occupy the most advantageous points for defending themselves and 
dislodging the enemy. At daybreak, having disposed his whole 
force, and directed even the women to assist by throwing stones and 
tiles from the house-tops, he made a furious charge upon tne Lacede- 
monians, whose superiority in number availed little, as they had not 
room to extend their front. But the violence of the storm, which 
continued unabated, was such as to prevent the women from acting 
on the roofs ; many of whom were, however, animated with such a 
manly resolution for the defence of their country, that they took 
arms and joined in the fight below. There the battle continued all 
day with scarcely other effect than mutual slaughter. At night 
there was again a pause ; but it was such as allowed little rest or 
refreshment to the Messenians. Now the Lacedaemonian general 
profited from his numbers. He sent half his forces to their camp, 
while with the other half he kept the Messenians in constant alarm, 
and with the return of day he brought back his refreshed troops to 
renew the attack. The Messenian chiefs became soon convinced 



LAST EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 65 



that all attempts to expel the enemy must be vain. After a short 
consultation, therefore, they formed their people in the most conveni- 
ent order for defending their wives and children and most portable 
effects, while they forced their way out of the place. The Lacedae- 
monians, whose political institutions in some degree commanded the 
permission of escape for a flying enemy, gave them free passage. 
The Messenians directed their melancholy march to Arcadia. There 
they were most hospitably 'received by their faithful allies of that 
country, who divided them in quarters among their towns. 

Even in this extremity of misfortune, the enterprising genius of 
Aristomenes was immediately imagining new schemes for restoring 
his country, and taking vengeance on her enemies. He selected five 
hundred Messenians, to whom three hundred Arcadian volunteers 
joined themselves, with a resolution to attempt the surprise of Sparta 
itself, while the Lacedgemonian army was yet in the farthest part of 
Messenia, where Pylus and Methone still remained to be conquered. 
Every thing was prepared for the enterprise, when some of the Arca- 
dian chiefs received intelligence that a messenger was gone from their 
king, Aristocrates, to Sparta. They caused this man to be waylaid 
on his return. He was seized, and letters were found upon him, 
thanking Aristocrates for information of the expedition now intended, 
as well as for his former services. An assembly of the people was 
immediately summoned, in which the letters and their bearer were 
produced ; and the leaders in the interest opposite to Aristocrates 
worked up the anger of the commonalty to such a pitch against their 
treacherous prince, that they stoned him to death. To perpetuate 
his infamy, a pillar was afterward erected with an inscription, still 
preserved in the writings both of Pausanias and Polybius, warning 
future chiefs of the vengeance of the deity, which unfailingly, sooner 
or later, overtakes traitors and perjurers. 

The Pylians, Methoneans, and other Messenians of the coast, judg- 
ing it now vain to attempt the defence of their towns, embarked with 
their effects in what vessels they could collect, and sailed to Cyllene, 
a port of Eleia : thence they sent a proposal to their fellow-country- 
men in Arcadia, to go all together and settle a colony wherever they 
could find an advantageous establishment ; and they desired Aristo- 
menes for their leader. The proposal was readily accepted by the 
people, and, as far as concerned them, approved by the general ; but, 
excusing himself, he sent his son Gorgus, with Manticlus, son of the 
prophet Theocles, Avho had been his constant friend and companion, 
to conduct the enterprise. Still it remained to be decided to what 
uninhabited or ill-inhabited coast they should direct their course. 



66 LAST EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 



Some were for Zacynthus, some for Sardinia ; but mnter being 
already set in, it was soon agreed to put off the determination till 
spring. In the interval a fortunate occurrence offered. On the 
taking of Ithome in the former war, some Messenians, joining with 
some adventurers from Chalcis, in Euboea, had wandered to Italy, 
and there founded the town of Rhegium. These colonists had per- 
petual variance with the Zanclosans, on the opposite coast of Sicily, 
a people also of Grecian origin ; the first of whom were pirates, who 
settled there under Cratiemenes of Samos and Periercs of Chalcis. 
Anaxilas, now Prince of Rhegium, was of Messenian race. Hearing, 
therefore, of this second catastrophe of his mother-country, he sent 
to inform the Messenians at Cyllene, that there was in his neighbour- 
hood a valuable territory, and a town most commodiously situated, 
which should be theirs if they would assist him in dispossessing the 
present proprietors, his inveterate enemies. The offer was accepted ; 
the confederates, victorious by sea and land, besieged Zancle, and 
reducing the inhabitants to extremity, an accommodation was agreed 
upon, by which it was determined that the Messenians and Zanclceans 
should hold the city and country in common, as one people, but that 
the name should be changed to Messene. Thus the Messenians 
obtained a settlement, from which, howsoever in the course of ages 
variously subjected, they have never been expelled ; and the city, 
among many great misfortunes, generally flourishing, retains the very 
name, in the Latin orthography Messina, to this day. How far the 
late dreadful convulsion of the elements, involving in common deso- 
lation Messina with its ancient rival Reggio, and violently changing 
the face of nature to a great extent on both coasts, may, beyond all 
former calamities, urge its final downfall, will be for the historian 
of future years to tell. 

Aristomenes for some time still indulged the hope, through some 
favouring contingency, to avenge his country on the Lacedemonians : 
but, going to Delphi, he found the Pythoness too wise to prophesy 
him any encouragement. Yet, though he was no longer to shine in a 
public situation, fortune was favourable to his private happiness. 
Damagetus, prince, or, as he is styled by Grecian writers, tyrant of 
lalysus, in the island of Rhodes, happened to be at Delphi, inquiring 
of the oracle whom he should marry ; for it seems to have been about 
this time that Delphi was in highest repute, individuals often straining 
their circumstances to obtain its advice on their more interesting 
private concerns. To a question in its nature rather puzzling, the 
Pythoness gave a very prudent answer, and at the same time of 
uncommonly obvious interpretation. She directed Damagetus to take 



LAST EXPLOITS OF ARISTOMENES. 



6T 



the daughter of the man of highest character among the Greeks. 
Aristomenes, then on the spot, was unquestionably in reputation the 
first of the Greeks, and he had a daughter unmarried. Damagetus 
therefore made his proposals, which were accepted ; and Aristomenes 
passed with him to Rhodes, where he is said to have spent the rest of 
his life in honourable ease. 






SOLON, PISISTRATUS, AND THE PISISTRATIDiE. 

^^yilE political history of Athens begins properly with the 
reign of Theseus, who succeeded his father iEgeus about 
B. c. 1300. Certain institutions, such as the court of 
Areopagus, and the division of the people into eupatridre, 
(nobles,) georgi, {husbandmen,) and dcmiurgi, {mecha- 
lics,) are so manifestly derived from the Egyptian system of caste, 
that we may without hesitation assign them to Cecrops. Theseus, 
however, deserves to be regarded as the founder of the state, since, 
instead of the four independent districts, or demoi, into which Attica 
was divided, he established one body politic, and made Athens the 
seat of government. Among his successors, the most remarkable 
were Mnestheus, who fell before Troy, and Codrus, whose generous 
devotion led to the total abolition of royalty. After the abolition of 
royalty, b. C. 10G8, thirteen archons of his family ruled in succession, 
differing from kings only in being accountable for their administration. 
The first was Medon, the last Alcmreon ; after his death, b. c. 752, 
archons were chosen every ten years from the family of Codrus. 

68 



SOLON, PISISTRATUS, AND THE PISISTRATID^. 69 



There were seven of these, the last of whom ceased to rule b. c. 682. 
Nine annual archons were then appointed by the powerful class of 
nobility, consisting not only of the descendants of such foreign princes 
as had taken refuge in Athens, but of those Athenian families which 
time and accident had raised to opulence and distinction. The powers 
of these magistrates were not equal ; their rank and oflEices were so 
arranged, that the prerogatives of the former kings and the preceding 
archons were divided among the first three of the nine. Nothing was 
gained by the great body of the people during these revolutions. The 
equestrian order, so called from their fighting on horseback, enjoyed 
all authority, religious, civil, and military. The Athenian populace 
were reduced to a condition of miserable servitude ; the lives and 
fortunes of individuals were left at the discretion of magistrates, who 
were too much disposed to decide according to party prejudices or 
their own private interests. 

In this confusion, Draco was chosen to prepare a code of laws, 
(b. c. 622.) He was a man of unswerving integrity, but of unex- 
ampled severity. His laws bore the impress of his character ; the 
punishment of death was denounced against all crimes, small as well 
as great ; and this indiscriminate cruelty rendered the whole code 
inoperative. Human nature revolted against such legal butchery ; 
and Draco, to avoid the public indignation, fled to -^gina, where he 
died an exile. 

This ineffectual effort only augmented the divisions of the state ; 
the excesses of the aristocratic factions produced the most violent 
indignation. The state was, in fact, reduced to perfect anarchy. To 
remedy these disorders, Solon, who had already won the confidence 
of his countrymen by planning and accomplishing an enterprise for 
the recovery of Salamis, was unanimously raised to the dignity of first 
magistrate, legislator, and sovereign arbiter, (b. c. 594.) He was 
eminently qualified for this important station. Descended from the 
ancient kings of Athens, he applied himself in early life to commercial 
pursuits, and, having secured a competency by honourable industry, 
he travelled to distant lands in search of knowledge. Such was his 
success, that he was reckoned the chief of the sages commonly called 
the Seven Wise Men of Greece, who in his age laid the foundation of 
Grecian philosophy. 

The chief object of Solon's legislation was to restrain the excessive 
power of the aristocracy, without, however, introducing a pure demo- 
cracy. He abolished all the laws of Draco, except those against 
murder. The state of debtors calling loudly for relief, he made an 
equitable adjustment of the claims of creditors, but at the same time 



TO SOLON, PISISTRATUS, AND THE PISISTRATID^. 



conciliated capitalists by raising the value of money. He abolished 
slavery and imprisonment for debt, which had led to great abuses and 
cruelties. 

Without abolishing the ancient local divisions, he arranged the 
citizens in four classes, according to their property, measured in 
agricultural produce. 1. The first class were the pentacosi-medimni, 
whose annual income exceeded five hundred bushels, (medimni ;) 2. The 
knights, (hippeis,) whose revenue was equal to four hundred ; 3. The 
zeugitoe, who had three hundred ; and, 4. The thetes, whose yearly 
revenue fell short of that sum. Citizens of all classes had a right of 
voting at the popular assemblies and in the courts of judicature ; but 
magisterial ofiices were limited to the first three classes. The archon- 
ship was left unaltered, but it was ordained that none of these magis- 
trates should hold military command during his year of office. A 
council of four hundred was chosen from the first three classes, pos- 
sessing senatorial authority ; the members were selected by lot, but 
they were obliged to undergo a very strict examination into their past 
lives and characters before they were permitted to enter upon office. 
The archons were bound to consult the council in every important 
public matter ; and no subject could be discussed in the general 
assembly of the people which had not previously received the sanction 
of the four hundred. 

The popular assemblies consisted of all the four classes, and usually 
met on the rocky hill called the Pnyx, described in the preceding 
section. They had the right of confirming or rejecting new laws, of 
electing the magistrates, of discussing all public affairs referred to 
them by the council, and of judging in all state trials. 

According to Solon's plan, the court of Areopagus should have been 
the chief pillar of the Athenian constitution. Before his time it was 
a mere engine of aristocratic oppression ; but Solon modified its con- 
stitution and enlarged its powers. It was composed of persons who 
had held the office of archon, and was made the supreme tribunal in 
all capital cases. It was likewise intrusted with the superintendence 
of morals, Avith the censorship upon the conduct of the archons at the 
expiration of their office ; and it had besides the privilege of amending 
or rescinding the measures that had passed the general assemblies of 
the people. 

Soon after this constitution was established, Solon was sent as a 
deputy to the Amphictyonic council at Delphi, and had no small share 
in stimulating that body to undertake the first sacred war against the 
Crisseans, who had invaded the sacred territories, and not only ravaged 
the country, but even plundered the shrine of Apollo. The war was 



BOLON, PISISTRATUS, AND THE PISISTRATID^. 71 



protracted ten years ; but it terminated in the final destruction of the 
Crissean community, and the dedication of their territory to the deity 
whose temple they had sacrilegiously plundered, (b. c. 590.) The ter- 
mination of the war was celebrated by the revival of the Pythian 
games, which had been discontinued during the contest. 

Scarcely had the liberties of Athens been established, when they 
were again subverted by the usurpation of Pisistratus. Like Solon, 
the usurper was descended from the ancient kings of Athens. He 
was also possessor of an enormous fortune, which he distributed to 
the poor with lavish munificence. His generosity, his eloquence, and 
his courteous manners won for him universal favour ; but he had the 
art to persuade the lower ranks of his countrymen, that his popularity 
had rendered him odious to the nobles, and that the protection of a 
body-guard was necessary to the safety of his life. Scarcely had this 
been granted, when he seized on the Acropolis, and made himself ab- 
solute master of Athens, (b. c. 561.) Solon refused the usurper's offers 
of favour and protection : he went into voluntary exile, and died, or 
at least was buried, at Salamis. Megacles, the chief of the povv'erful 
family of Alcmseonid^, retired, with all his attendants and political 
friends, beyond the boundaries of Attica ; but he entered into a secret 
intrigue with Lycurgus, the chief of another faction, and by their 
joint efforts Pisistratus was driven into exile about twelve months 
after he had obtained the sovereignty. 

Megacles soon quarrelled with Lycurgus, and opened a negotiation 
with Pisistratus, ofiering to restore him if he would become his son- 
in-law. The terms were accepted, and Pisistratus was again sum- 
moned to assume sovereign power, amid the general exultation of the 
people. A quarrel with Megacles drove him a second time into ba- 
nishment ; but he returned again at the head of an army, and having 
recovered the reins of power, held them without interruption until the 
day of his death. The power thus illegally acquired was adminis- 
tered with equity and mildness. Pisistratus ceased not to exert him- 
self to extend the glory of Athens, and secure the happiness of the 
Athenians. 

On the death of Pisistratus, (b. c. 528,) his sons Hipparchus and 
Hippias succeeded to his power, but not to his prudence and abilities. 
After a joint reign of fourteen years, Hipparchus was murdered by 
two young Athenians, Harmodius and Aristogiton, whose resent- 
ment he had provoked by an atrocious insult, (b. c. 514.) The cruelty 
with which Hippias punished all whom he suspected of having had a 
share in his brother's death, alienated the affections of the people, and 
encouraged the Alcmeeonidse to make an efi"ort for his expulsion. By 



72 



SOLON, PISISTKATUS, AND THE PISISTRATID^. 



large bribes to the Delphian priesthood, they obtained a response 
from the oracle commanding the Spartans to expel the Pisistratidse ; 
and that superstitious people immediately sent an army for that pur- 
pose, (b. c. 510.) After a brief struggle, Ilippias -was forced to aban- 
don Athens, and thenceforward lived in perpetual exile. 







,. '. cm^\^\\,};.'V\\\V-„,-v. 







FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 



HOUGH Hippias, upon being driven from the throne, 
was obliged to abandon his native country, he did not, 
however, give up all hopes of being able some time or 
other to recover his lost power. He first applied to 
the Lacedoemonians, and that people seemed sufficient- 
ly willing to espouse his cause ;* they thought that 
his restoration might the more easily be effected, be- 
cause Athens was at this time thrown into confusion, 
by the introduction of the new mode of voting by ostracism, that is 
of procui^ing the banishment of any citizen for ten years, whose wealth 
or popularity rendered him dangerous to the state, by allowing every 




* AVhat rendered the Lacediemonians anxious to espouse the cause of the exiled 
monarch was an apprehension that Athens ■vvouhl become too powerful, if not weak- 
ened by tyranny or civil dissension. But the other states of Greece were equally 
jealous of Sparta, and refused to concur in any measure that might destroy the ba- 
lance of power, which alone insured their safety. 



75 



76 FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 



one above sixty years of age to give in the name of the obnoxious per- 
son, written upon a tile or oyster-shell.* Before they undertook, 
however, to assist Hippias in reascending the throne, they thought it 
prudent to consult the other states of Peloponnesus with regard to the 
propriety of the measure, and finding all, but especially the Corin- 
thians, averse to it, they abandoned the tyrant and his cause for 
ever. 

Hippias, disappointed in his hopes of aid from the Lacednemonians, 
had recourse to one whom he considered as a much more powerful 
patron, Artaphernes, governor of Sardis for the king of Persia. To 
him he represented the facility with which an entire conquest might 
be made of Athens ; and the Persian court, influenced by the prospect 
of gaining such an addition of territory, and particularly such an 
extent of sea-coast, readily adopted the proposal. AVhen the Athe- 
nians, therefore, sent a messenger into Persia to vindicate their pro- 
ceedings with regard to Hippias, they received for answer, " That if 
they wished to be safe, they must admit Hippias for their king." 
But these gallant republicans had too ardent a passion for liberty, 
and too rooted an aversion to slavery, patiently to submit to so impe- 
rious a mandate. They therefore returned a peremptory refusal ; 
and from that time forward the Athenians and Persians began to 
prepare for commencing hostilities against each other. 

The gallantry, indeed, of the Athenians upon this occasion is the 
more to be admired, as their numbers and resources bore no propor- 
tion to those of the prince whom they thus set at defiance. The Per- 
sian monarch was, at that time, the most powerful sovereign in the 
universe ; whereas the small state of Athens did not contain above 
twenty thousand citizens, ten thousand strangers, and about fifty or 
sixty thousand servants. Sparta, which afterward took such a con- 
siderable share, and made so capital a figure, in the war against Per- 
sia, Avas still more inconsiderable with respect to numbers. These 
did not amount to above nine thousand citizens, and about thirty 
thousand peasants. Yet these two states, with very little assistance 

* A more detailed account of this remarkable mode of punishment will probably 
be acceptable to the reader. It was called by the Greeks ostrakismos, from oslrakon, 
a tile. Every one taking a tile, on which he wrote the name of the person to be ba- 
nished, carried it to a certain part of the market-place, surrounded with rails for 
that purpose, in which were ten gates, appointed for the ten tribes, every one of 
which entered at a distinct gate. After this, the archons numbered the tiles. If 
they were fewer than six thousand, the ostracism was void ; if more, they laid every 
name by itself, when he whose name was written by the major part was banished for 
ten years. 



FIRST PERSIAN INVASION". 77 



from the inferior republics, were able not only to resist, but even to 
baffle and defeat all the attempts of the Persian monarch ; a memo- 
rable instance of what acts of heroism may be performed by men 
animated by a love of freedom, and inspired with a passion for mili- 
tary glory. 

The restoration of Hippias was not the only cause of quarrel be- 
tween the Persians and the Athenians. The Greek colonies of Ionia 
^olia, and Caria, that had been settled for above five hundred years 
in Asia Minor, were at length subdued by Croesus, king of Lydia, and 
he in turn sinking under the power of Cyrus, his conquests, of course, 
were incorporated with the rest of his dominions. These colonies, 
however, had not yet lost all memory of the liberty they had formerly 
enjoyed ; and they therefore anxiously awaited an opportunity of 
delivering themselves from the Persian yoke, and of recovering their 
ancient independence. In this they were now encouraged by His- 
ti^eus, the governor, or tyrant, as he was called, of Miletus, for all the 
Persian governors of these provinces were by the Greeks called ty- 
rants, (b. c. 500.) This man, having rendered his fidelity suspected at 
the Persian court, had no other way of providing for his own safety 
than by exciting the lonians to a revolt. By his direction, therefore, 
Aristagoras, his deputy, first applied to the Lacedgemonians for assist- 
ance, but they were unwilling to engage in a war which would lead 
them to a country so distant from their home. Failing of success in 
that quarter, he next had recourse to the Athenians, where he met 
with a more favourable reception. The Athenians were at this time 
inflamed with the highest resentment against the Persian monarch, 
on account of his haughty mandate with regard to the restoration of 
Hippias : they therefore supplied the lonians with twenty ships, to 
which the Eretrians, and some other Euboean states, added five 
more. 

Thus supported, Aristagoras entered the Persian territories, and 
penetrating into the heart of Lydia, burnt Sardis, the capital city ; but 
being soon after deserted by the Athenians, on account of some checks 
he received, he found himself altogether unable to make head against 
the power of Persia ; and though he contrived to maintain the strug- 
gle for the space of six years, yet he was at last obliged to fly into 
Thrace, where he was cut off with all his followers. As to Histiseus 
himself, being taken prisoner with a few of the insurgents, he was con- 
ducted to Artaphernes, and that inhuman tyrant immediately ordered 
him to be crucified, and his head to be sent to Darius. The lonians, 
after repeated defeats, were compelled to take shelter in Miletus, one 
of their strongest cities ; but it was soon besieged by the fleet and 



78 



FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 




army of tlie Persians, and after an obstinate defence, taken and burnt. 
Ionia soon, llo^Yever, recovered its former populousness, and was go- 
verned by the kings of Persia with great moderation and lenity. 

The commencement of this war naturally tended to widen the breach 
between the Athenians and Persians ; and the conclusion of it was no 
less calculated to inflame the pride and pi^esumption of the latter, than 
to inspire them with the ambitious design of making an entire con- 
quest of Greece. To pave the way for this grand project, Darius, in 
the twenty-eighth year of his reign, (b. c. 493,) having recalled all his 
other generals, sent his son-in-law, Mardonius, to command through- 
out the maritime parts of Asia, and particularly to revenge the burn- 
ing of Sardis, which he could neither forgive nor forget. But his 
fleet being shattered in a storm in doubling the cape of Mount Athos, 
his army repulsed, and himself wounded, by the Thracians, who 
attacked him suddenly by night, Mardonius returned to the Persian 
court, covered with shame and confusion for having miscarried in 
his enterprise both by sea and land. Darius therefore displaced him, 
and appointed two elder and abler generals, namely, Datis, a Mede, 
and Artaphernes, son of the late governor of Sardis, in his stead. 
At the same time he exerted himself with unwearied diligence in fur- 
nishing them with such an army and navy as he thought would render 
them certain of success. 

Previous, however, to his invasion of Greece, he thought it became 



FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 



79 




his dignity and humanity to send heralds into that country to require 
submission from the different states, or to threaten them with his ven- 
geance in case of refusal The lesser states, intimidated by his 
power, readily submitted ; but the Athenians and Spartans nobly dis- 
dained to acknowledge subjection to any earthly sovereio-n. When, 
therefore, the heralds demanded earth and water, the usual method of 
requiring submission from inferior states, these spirited republicans 
threw the one into a well, and the other into a ditch, and tauntingly 
bid them take earth and water from thence. Nay, they went still 
further ; they resolved to punish the ^ginetans for having basely 
submitted to the power of Persia, and by that means betrayed the 
common cause of Greece. 

These people, indeed, made some resistance ; they even carried on 
a naval war against the Athenians ; but the latter, having at length 
overcome them, increased their own navy to such a degree as to ren- 
der it almost a match for that of Persia. 

In the mean time, Darius, having completed his levies, sent away his 
generals, Datis and Artaphernes, to what he considered as a certain 
conquest. They were furnished with a fleet of six hundred ships, 
and an army of a hundred and twenty thousand men ; and their in- 
structions were to give up Athens and Eretria to be plundered, to 
burn all the houses and temples, and to lead the inhabitants into cap- 



80 



FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 



tivity. The country was to be laid desolate, and the army was pro- 
vided with a suflBcient number of chains for binding the prisoners. 

To oppose this formidable invasion, the Athenians had only about 
ten thousand men, but all of them animated with that invincible spirit 
which the love of liberty ever inspires. They were at this time headed 
by three of the greatest generals and statesmen their country ever 
produced, though no country ever produced more. These were Mil- 
tiades, Themistocles, and Aristides. The first was considered the 
ablest commander ; the second was so fond of a popular government, 
and so eager to ingratiate himself with his fellow-citizens, that he 
was frequently accused of partiality. The third was so rigid and 
inflexibly just, that his name has descended to posterity as almost 
another term for justice itself. 

The Persian fleet, warned by the disaster of Mardonius, steered 
their course through the Cyclades for the Athenian coast. The 
islanders made no resistance to an armament whose numbers seemed 
to hide the waters of the ^gean, but either fled to their mountains, 
or sent earth and water as tokens of their submission. At length 
the invaders landed in Euboea, and the first brunt of the war fell upon 
the Eretrians, who, being utterly unable to oppose so mighty a force 
in the field, shut themselves up in the town. But though they de- 
fended the place with great gallantry, yet, after a siege of seven days, 
it was taken by the perfidy of two of its citizens, and reduced to 
ashes ; the inhabitants were put in chains, and sent as the first-fruits 
of victory to the Persian monarch. The rest of the island was 
soon subdued, and the Persians resolved to invade Attica, whose 
shores, separated from them only by the narrow strait of the Euripus, 
seemed to invite them to an easy conquest. The measures that they 
adopted for accomplishing this design appear to have been very judi- 
cious ; they left a large portion of their army to garrison the islands 
that had been subdued, sent all their useless attendants with the cap- 
tive Eretrians into Asia, and selected one hundred thousand of their 
best infantry, with a due proportion of cavalry, to form the expedi- 
tion. They easily crossed the strait, and being directed in their march 
by Ilippias, whose knowledge of the country and intimate acquaint- 
ance with the aff'airs of Greece made his opinions valuable, they en- 
camped on the Marathonian shore, where the level plains afforded 
room for the operations of cavalry, which constituted the most efiect- 
ive part of the invading army, but with which the Greeks were badly 
provided. There the Athenians resolved to oppose them ; but not 
thinking themselves singly equal to such an undertaking, they sent 
first to the Spartans for assistance, and would certainly have obtained 



FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 81 



it, had it not been for a foolish superstition, which would not allow 
them to begin a march before the full moon. They then applied to 
the other states of Greece ; but these, except the Platreans, who sent 
one thousand soldiers, were too much intimidated by the power of 
Persia to venture to move in their defence. 

Obliged, therefore, to depend upon their own courage alone, they 
collected all their forces, to the number of eleven thousand freemen, 
with probably an equal number of armed slaves, and intrusted the 
command of them to ten generals, of whom Miltiades was the chief ; 
and each of these was to have the direction of the troops for one day 
in regular succession. But this arrangement was soon found to be so 
very inconvenient, that, by the advice of Aristides, the chief com- 
mand was vested in Miltiades alone, as the ablest and most expe- 
rienced of all the generals. At the same time it was resolved in a 
council of war, though only by a majority of one vote, to meet the 
enemy in the open field, instead of waiting for them within the walls 
of the city. 

Miltiades, sensible of the inferiority of his numbers when compared 
to those of the enemy, endeavoured to make up for this defect by 
taking possession of an advantageous ground, (b. c. 490.) He there- 
fore drew up his army at the foot of a mountain, so that the enemy 
should not be able to surround him, or charge him in the rear. At 
the same time he fortified his flanks with a number of large trees 
that were cut down for the purpose, and strewed the ground in his 
front with branches, piles of stones, and other obstacles, to impede 
the Persian cavalry, which in consequence seem to have been rendered 
useless in the engagement. 

Datis saw the advantage which the Athenians must derive from 
this masterly disposition ; but relying on the superiority of his num- 
bers, and unwilling to wait till the Spartan succours should arrive, he 
resolved to begin the engagement. The signal for battle, however, 
was no sooner given, than the Athenians, instead of waiting for the 
onset of the enemy, rushed in upon them, according to their usual 
custom, with irresistible fury. The Persians regarded this as the 
result of madness and despair, rather than of deliberate courage ; but 
they were soon convinced of their mistake, when they found that the 
Athenians maintained the charge with the same spirit with which 
they had begun it. Miltiades had purposely and judiciously made 
his wings much stronger than his centre, where the slaves were posted, 
under the command of Themistocles and Aristides. 

The Persians, availing themselves of this circumstance, attacked 
the centre with great bravery, and were just upon the point of 

6 



82 



FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 




Battle of Marathon. 



making it give way, ■when the two wings, having now become victo- 
rious, suddenly wheeled about, and falling upon the enemy on both 
flanks at once, threw them into disorder. The Persians fought with 
swords and battle-axes, the Greeks used the sp.ear ; when their dense 
line of lances fell upon the hostile flanks, the shock was irresistible, 
the rout became universal, and the enemy fled to their ships with great 
precipitation. The Athenians pursued them as far as the beach, and 
even set several of their ships on fire. It was on this occasion that 
Cinfcgeirus, the brother of the poet iEschylus, seized one of the 
enem.y's ships with his right hand, as they were pushing it off from 
the shore. When his right hand was cut off, he laid hold of the 
vessel with his left ; and that likewise being lopped off", he at last 
seized it with his teeth, and in that manner expired. 

Seven of the enemy's ships were taken, and above six thousand 
men left dead upon the field of battle, not to mention those who were 
drowned as they were endeavouring to escape, or were consumed in 
the ships that were set on fire. Of the Greeks there fell not above 
two hundred, and among these was Callimachus, who gave the casting 
vote for fighting the enemy in the field. Hippias, who was the chief 
cause of the war, is thought to have perished in this battle, though 
some say he escaped, and afterward died miserably at Lemnos, 
(A. M. 3514.) 



FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 



83 




The Persians pursued to their fleet after the battle of Marathon. 

Such was the famous battle of Marathon, one of the most import- 
ant that is to be found in history, as it first taught the Greeks to 
despise the power of the Persian monarch, bravely to maintain their 
independence, and to go on cultivating those arts and sciences which 
had so evident a tendency to polish and refine their own manners, 
and which have since difiused their benign influence over all the rest 
of Europe. Yet it would have proved fatal to the Greeks but for the 
activity of Miltiades. Datis, in his retreat, had conceived the hope 
of surprising Athens, which he imagined to be without defence, and 
his fleet had already doubled the promontory of Sunium, which forms 
the extreme point of Attica. No sooner was Miltiades informed of 
this, than he began his march, arrived the same day under the walls 
of the city, by his presence disconcerted the projects of the enemy, 
and obliged Datis to retire to the coasts of Asia. 

Of the marble which the Persians had brought with them for the 
erection of a monument to perpetuate the memory of their expected 
victory, the Athenians now caused a statue to be made by the cele- 
brated sculptor Phidias, to transmit to posterity the remembrance 
of their defeat. This statue was dedicated to the goddess Nemesis, 
who had a temple near the place. Monuments were at the same time 
erected to the memory of all those who had fallen in the battle ; and 
upon these were inscribed their own names, and the name of the tribe 
to which they belonged. Of these monuments there were three 



84 FIRST PERSIAN INVASION. 



kinds ; one for the Athenians, one for the Platoeans, their allies, and 
one for the slaves who had been enrolled among the troops upon this 
pressing emergency. To express their gratitude to Miltiades, the 
Athenians caused a picture to be painted by one of their most eminent 
artists, named Polygnotus, in which that great commander was repre- 
sented at the head of the other generals, animating the troops, and 
setting them an example of bravery. 

The fame and influence which Miltiades had thus acquired 
eventually proved the cause of his ruin. He obtained from the 
Athenians an armament of seventy ships, without mentioning the 
manner in which he designed to employ them, but simply declaring 
that he wished to execute a project, which would bring great riches 
to Athens. With this force he sailed against the island of Pares, 
under the pretence of punishing the inhabitants for the assistance 
they had been compelled to give the Persians, but in reality to avenge 
a private quarrel of his own. He demanded from the islanders one 
hundred talents as the price of his retreat, but the Parians heroically 
refused to purchase safety, and set him at defiance. After a vain 
attempt to storm the town, Miltiades returned to Athens wounded and 
disappointed. For this disgraceful expedition he was brought to trial 
by Xanthippus, a nobleman of high rank. His wound prevented him 
from making a vigorous defence ; but the sight of the hero of Mara- 
thon extended on a couch, for he caused himself to be thus brought 
to the assembly, was more calculated to produce an effect on the mul- 
titude than the most eloquent oration. The crime laid to his charge 
was capital, but the Athenians were unwilling to inflict the punish- 
ment of death on one who had performed such essential services to 
the republic. They fined him fifty talents, (about 10,000Z.) which 
being unable to pay, he was thrown into prison. Miltiades died of 
his wounds in a few days after his imprisonment, but the fine was paid 
by his son Cimon. Many historians have quoted this as an instance 
of the ingratitude shown by the Athenians to their public men ; but 
assuredly the unjustifiable attack on the Parians, and the lavish ex- 
penditure of the public treasures and the blood of the citizens in 
prosecuting a private pique, merited a severe punishment ; and if we 
take into account the manner in which the resources of the state were 
wasted, the fine does not appear extravagant. 





SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 

ARIUS, rather enraged than intimidated 
by the loss he had sustained in the battle 
of Marathon, was preparing to invade 
Greece in person, when, happily for the 
fe peace of that country, death put an end to his ambi- 
§ tious project. His son Xerxes, however, who suc- 
ceeded him on the throne, was determined to execute 
the plan his father had formed. Having just returned from a suc- 
cessful expedition he had made into Egypt, he expected to meet with 
the like good fortune in Europe. But before he would engage in so 
important an enterprise, he thought proper to consult the principal 
officers in his court. Mardonius, his brother-in-law, well knowing his 
secret sentiments, and willing to flatter him in his favourite pursuits, 
highly applauded the resolution he had taken. But Artabanus, his 
uncle, whom years and experience had rendered wise, endeavoured to 
divert him from his rash design. 

His arguments, however, instead of producing the desired effect, 
drew from the haughty monarch a stern reprimand, as unbecoming 
as it was unjust. While these hostile designs were in agitation, the 
Athenians were assiduously employed, under the conduct of Themis- 
tocles, in subduing their more domestic enemies. The smaller islands 
in the ^gean sea had, through his exertions, been already reduced 

87 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



to obedience ; but the possession of these remained precarious while 
the fleet of ^gina covered the sea, and bid defiance to that of Athens. 
That they might be enabled to seize or destroy this fleet, Themisto- 
cles persuaded the Athenians to devote the produce of the silver mine 
at Laureium, in Attica, to the purpose of building ships of "war. 
This prudent advice was of infinite service, as will appear in the 
sequel. 

Xerxes, having thus resolved upon his expedition into Greece, (b. c. 
480,) began to make preparations for carrying it into execution ; and 
the greatness of these showed the high sense he entertained of the 
power and bravery of the enemy. Sardis was the general rendezvous 
for his land forces ; and the fleet was ordered to advance along the 
coasts of Asia Minor towards the Hellespont. On his way thither, 
in order to shorten its passage, he cut a canal through the neck of 
land that joined Mount Athos to the continent ; and, while this was 
doing, he addressed the mountain with all that pomp and ostentation 
for which the Eastern princes have ever been remarkable. " Athos," 
said he, " thou proud aspiring mountain, that liftest up thy head to 
the heavens, be not so audacious as to put obstacles in my way. If 
thou dost, I will cut thee level with the plain, and throw thee head- 
long into the sea." 

In his march to Sardis he gave a shocking proof of the cruelty of 
his disposition. Having required the eldest son of Pythias, a Lydian 
prince, to attend him in the war, the father ofl'ered him all his treasure, 
amounting to about four millions sterling, to purchase his exemption; 
and, as the young man seemed desirous of staying at home, Xerxes 
commanded him immediately to be put to death before his father's 
eyes. Then, causing the body to be cut in two, and one part of it 
to be placed on the right and the other on the left of the way, he 
made the whole army pass between them ; a terrible example of what 
every one had to expect that dared to dispute his orders. 

His army w'as composed not merely of Persians, but of Modes, 
Lydians, Bactrians, Assyrians, Ilyrcanians ; in a word, of every 
people that either acknowledged his authority, dreaded his power, or 
courted his alliance ; so that it is said to have amounted to above 
two millions of men. His fleet consisted of fourteen hundred and 
twenty-seven ships, besides a thousand lesser vessels that were em- 
ployed in carrying provisions. On board of these were six hundred 
thousand men ; so that the whole army might be said to amount to 
above two millions and a half; which, with the women, slaves, and 
sutlers always attending a Persian camp, might make the whole above 
five millions of souls — a force which, if rightly conducted, might have 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 89 



given law to the universe ; but, being commanded by ignorance and 
presumption, was soon after repulsed, and finally defeated by the 
small but gallant states of Greece. 

With this mighty armament, Xerxes set out on his expedition, ten 
years after the battle of Marathon, (b. c. 480.) Upon reviewing his 
forces, his heart was naturally elated with joy from a consciousness 
of his superior power ; but this soon gave place to the feelings of 
humanity, and he burst into tears when he reflected that a hundred 
years hence not one of so many thousands would be alive. He had 
previously given orders for building a bridge of boats across the Hel- 
lespont, or, as it is now called, the Dardanelles, which separates Asia 
from Europe, and is about an English mile over. But this bridge, 
when completed, being carried away by the current, Xerxes, like a 
tyrant, wreaked his vengeance upon the workmen, and, like a lunatic, 
upon the sea. He caused the heads of the former to be struck off, 
and a certain number of lashes to be inflicted upon the latter to 
punish it for its insolence, and fetters to be thrown into it to teach it 
for the future obedience to his will ; a striking proof how much the 
possession of despotic power tends not only to corrupt the heart, but 
even to weaken and blind the understanding. A new bridge Avas 
formed by a double range of vessels secured by double anchors, and 
fastened together with the strongest cables. On these a roadway 
was formed by the trunks of trees ; the interstices were filled up 
with earth, and smooth planks laid over all. The sides were fenced 
with wicker-work to prevent any of the horses or beasts of burden 
from slipping over ; and upon this singular structure the entire army 
passed over from Abydos, in Asia Minor, to the little city of Sestus, 
in Thrace. So great was the number of the Persians, that seven days 
and nights were spent in the passage. 

Xerxes, having thus entered Europe, began his march directly for 
Greece, receiving everywhere the submission of the countries through 
which he passed. Most of the states of Greece, overawed by his 
power, submitted at the first summons. Athens and Sparta alone, 
those glorious republics, nobly disdained such pusillanimous conduct ; 
they gallantly resolved to oppose the invader of their country, and 
either to preserve their liberties entire or to perish in the attempt. 
From the moment that Xerxes began his preparations, they had re- ' 
ceived intelligence of his designs ; and in their turn began to take 
measures for rendering them abortive. They had also sent spies to 
Sardis, in order to bring them an exact account of the number and 
quality of the enemy's forces. The spies, indeed, were seized ; but 
Xerxes, instead of punishing, or even detaining them, ordered them 



90 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



to be conducted through his camp and then dismissed, desiring them, 
at the same time, on their return home, to give a faithful relation 
of what they had seen. The Athenians and Spartans, however, 
neither intimidated by the mighty force that now came against them 
nor by the base submission of the inferior states, nobly resolved to 
face the common danger with joint forces. These forces did not 
amount to above eleven thousand two hundred men ; and yet, with 
this handful of troops, they determined to oppose the almost innu- 
merable army of Xerxes. 

Their first care was to appoint a general ; and they wisely made 
choice of Themistocles, the ablest commander that had appeared in 
Greece since the death of Miltiades. They likewise recalled Aris- 
tides, who had been driven into banishment by the faction of his 
enemies,* at the head of which, indeed, was Themistocles: such is 
the jealousy that sometimes prevails between great men, though 
equally attached to the interest of their country ! 

Ambassadors were sent to the Greek colonies in Sicily and Italy, 
soliciting them to assist their parent country in this crisis ; the inha- 
bitants of these states, with that eager love for Hellas which pervaded 
all the Hellenic tribes, immediately promised their assistance. Gelon, 
who then ruled at Syracuse, was appointed to command the auxiliaries, 
and, impressed with a deep sense of his own importance and abilities, 
required to be nominated captain-general of all the Grecian forces. 
The Spartans, with their usual pride, peremptorily rejected his 
demand ; and before any amicable arrangement could be formed, the 
Grajco-Italian states were obliged to contend for their own independ- 
ence at home. The Carthaginians had been long the commercial 
rivals of the Grecian colonists, and had \ainly attempted to crush 
their rising greatness ; the invasion of Greece by Xerxes seemed to 
aiford them a favourable opportunity ; they entered into a close alli- 
ance with the Persian monarch, and attacked Sicily at the very same 
moment that he invaded Greece. The defeat of the Carthaginians 
was as signal as that of their Asiatic ally ; but it did not occur at a 
period sufficiently early to alloAv of the colonists parting with any of 
their forces for the defence of the parent state. 

* It was upon the occasion of his banishment, that a peasant who could not write, 
and did not know Aristides personally, applied to him, and desired him to write 
the name of that citizen upon the shell by which his vote was given against him. 
" Has he done you any wrong," said Aristides, " that you are for condemning him 
in this manner?" — "No," replied the peasant, "but I hate to hear him always 
praised for his justice." Aristides, without saying a word more, calmly took the 
shell, wrote down his name upon it, and contentedly retired into exile. 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 91 



Themistocles saw that the enemy must be opposed by sea as well 
as by land ; and, to enable him to do this with the greater eifect, he 
caused a hundred galleys to be built, and turned all his thoughts 
towards the improvement of the navy. The oracle had declared, 
some time before, that Athens should defend herself only with wooden 
walls ; and he took advantage of the ambiguity of this reply, to per- 
suade his countrymen that by such walls was meant her shipping. 
The Lacedoemonians used equal industry in improving their navy, so 
that, upon the approach of Xerxes, the confederates found themselves 
possessed of a squadron of two hundred and eighty sail, the command 
of which was conferred upon Eurybiades, a Spartan. 

Being unable to cope with the overwhelming numbers of the Per- 
sians in the open plains, the Greeks resolved to confine their military 
operations to the defence of the few passes that are found in the 
chains of mountains by which Hellas is intersected. For this pur- 
pose, they sent a strong detachment to secure the vale of Tempo, 
which formed the usual road between Macedonia and Thessaly. But 
having soon after discovered that there was another pass at some 
distance, and their army being insufiicient to garrison both, they 
retreated southward, and finally resolved to make their first stand 
at the straits of Thermopylas, which secured the entrance to Phocis 
and Boeotia. 

The command of this important pass was given to Leonidas, one 
of the kings of Sparta, who led thither a body of six thousand men. 
Of these, three hundred only were Spartans ; the rest consisted of 
Boeotians, Corinthians, Phocians, and other allies. This chosen band 
were taught from the beginning to consider themselves as a forlorn 
hope, placed there to check the progress of the enemy, and give 
them a foretaste of the desperate valour of Greece. Nor were even 
oracles wanting to inspire them with enthusiastic ardour. It had 
been declared that, to procure the safety of Greece, it was necessary 
that a king, one of the descendants of Hercules, should die ; and 
this task was now cheerfully undertaken by Leonidas, who, when he 
marched out of Lacedcemon, considered himself a willing sacrifice for 
his country. 

In the mean time Xerxes advanced with his immense army, the 
very sight of which, he thought, would terrify the Greeks into sub- 
mission, without his being obliged to strike a single blow. Great, 
therefore, was his surprise, when he found that a few desperate men 
were determined to dispute his passage through the straits of Tber- 
mopylge. At first he could not believe they would persevere in their 
resolution ; and he therefore gave them four days to reflect on their 



92 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



danger, hoping they would at last think it most prudent to retire. 
But when he found them remain immovable in their post, he sent 
them a summons to deliver up their arms. Leonidas, with a true 
Spartan contempt, desired him "to come and take them." And 
when it was observed that the Persian forces were so numerous that 
their very arrows would darken the sun, "Then," replied Dieneces, a 
Spartan, "we shall fight in the shade." 

Xerxes, provoked at these sarcasms, resolved to begin the attack 
immediately. The first assault was made by a body of Medes, but 
these were instantly repulsed with great slaughter. A body of ten 
thousand Persians, commonly known by the name of the immortal 
band, made another attempt to dislodge the Grecians, but with no 
better success than the former. In a word, the Greeks maintained 
their ground against the Avhole power of the Persian army for two 
days together ; and would probably have maintained it much longer, 
had it not been for the treachery of Epialtes, a Trachinian, who, 
having deserted to the enemy, conducted a body of twenty thousand 
Persians through a by-path across a mountain that overhung the 
straits. 

Leonidas, seeing the enemy in this situation, plainly perceived 
that his post was no longer tenable ; he therefore advised his allies 
to retire, and reserve themselves for better times and the future 
safety of Greece. "As for myself and my fellow Spartans," said 
he, " we are obliged by our laws not to fly : I owe a life to my 
country, and it is now my duty to fall in its defence." The Thes- 
pians, in number about seven hundred, which probably comprised 
the entire strength of that little commonwealth, gallantly resolved 
to share the fate of the Spartans, and four hundred Thebans were 
detained as hostages for the more than doubtful faith of their coun- 
trymen. When the rest had retired, Leonidas exhorted his followers, 
in the most cheerful manner, to prepare for death. " Come, my 
fellow-soldiers," says he, "let us dine cheerfully here, for to-night 
we shall sup with Pluto." His men, upon hearing his determined 
purpose, set up a loud shout, as if they had been invited to a ban- 
quet, and resolved every man to sell his life as dearly as he could. 
The night now began to advance, and this was thought the most 
glorious opportunity of meeting death in the enemy's camp^ as the 
darkness, by concealing the smallness of their numbers, would fill 
the Persians with greater consternation. Thus resolved, they made 
directly to the Persian tents, and in the silence of night had almost 
penetrated to the royal pavilion, with hopes of surprising the king. 
The obscurity added to the horror of the scene ; and the Persians, 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



95 



incapable of distinguishing friend from foe, fell furiously upon each 
other, and rather assisted than opposed the Greeks. Thus success 
seemed likely to crown their bold but rash enterprise, had not the 
morning dawn discovered the smallness of their numbers. They 
retreated back to the straits, and four times repulsed their Persian pur- 
suers ; but while the victory was as yet doubtful, the Persian detach- 
ment, which had been intrusted to the guidance of Epialtes, was seen 
descending from the hills in their rear. Nothing now remained for 
the defenders of the straits but to sell their lives as dearly as possible ; 
abandoning, therefore, their outer lines of defence, they retreated 
behind the Phocian wall, and there forming themselves into a square, 
patiently awaited the approach of their enemies. The Thebans took 
advantage of this opportunity to put in practice their meditated trea- 
chery ; they advanced with reversed arms to surrender themselves 
to the Persians, but their object being mistaken, they were received 
as enemies, and very few of them purchased a miserable life by their 
disgraceful desertion. Meantime, the last stronghold of the Greeks 




Death of Leoniias. 



was assailed on every side, and yet not a man swerved from his post. 
The wall was at length tumbled down — the spears of the Greeks were 
blunted and shivered in the protracted contest — Leonidas, their leader, 
had fallen in the attack on the Persian camp, but his body, placed in 
the centre of the diminished band, was the rallying point of his ex- 



96 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 

hausted soldiers. They sank at last beneath a mountain of darts, 
which formed the proudest testimony of their valour and their most 
suitable monument. Of all the band, two only escaped, whose names 
were Aristodemus and Panites. They were treated, in consequence, 
with such contempt on their return to Sparta, that Panites killed 
himself in despair; but Aristodemus bore it with fortitude, and 
recovered his lost honour by his gallant behaviour at the battle of 
Platsea. The loss of the Persians on this occasion is supposed to 
have amounted to twenty thousand men, among whom were two of 
the king's brothers. 

The same day on which the battle of Thermopylae was fought, 
there was a naval engagement between the fleets of Greece and 
Persia, off the cape of Artemisium in Euboea, in which the former 
took or sank thirty of the enemy's ships, and forced a hundred and 
seventy of them to sea, where, by stress of weather, they were all 
soon after either sunk or stranded. 

Xerxes, however, having now passed the straits, found nothing 
capable of opposing his progress in the open country ; he therefore 
directed his march towards Athens, on which he was determined to 
take signal vengeance. Themistocles, seeing the impossibility of 
defending this place, used all his eloquence and address in persuad- 
ing his countrymen to abandon it for the present ; and this he was 
at last able, though with no little difficulty, to effect. A decree was 
therefore passed, by which it was ordained, that Athens for a while 
should be given up in trust to the gods, and that all the inhabitants, 
whether in freedom or slavery, should go on board the fleet. The 
young and adventurous set sail for the neighbouring island of Sala- 
mis ; the old, the women, and children took shelter at Trazene, the 
inhabitants of which generously offered them an asylum. But in this 
general desertion of the city, that which raised the compassion of all 
was the great number of old men they were obliged to leave in the 
place, on account of their age and infirmities. Many also volun- 
tarily remained behind, believing that the citadel, which they had 
fortified with wooden walls, was what the oracle pointed out for 
general safety. To heighten this scene of distress, the matrons were 
seen clinging with fond affection to the places where they had so 
long resided ; the women filled the streets with lamentations ; and 
even the poor domestic animals seemed to take a part in the general 
concern. It was impossible to sec those poor creatures run howling 
and crying after their masters, who were going on shipboard, without 
being strongly affected. Among these, the faithfulness of a par- 
ticular dog is recorded, who jumped into the sea, and continued 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 99 



swimming after the vessel which contained his master, till he landed 
at Salamis, and died the moment after upon the shore. 

The few inhabitants that remained behind retired into the citadel, 
where, literally interpreting the oracle, they fortified it as well as they 
could, and patiently awaited the approach of the invader. Nor was 
it long before they saw him arrive at their gates, and summon them 
to surrender. This, however, they refused to do, or even to listen to 
any terms he proposed to them. The place was therefore taken by 
assault ; all who were found in it were put to the sword, and the cita- 
del reduced to ashes. 

While one division of the Persian army was marching throuo-h 
Boeotia on Athens, a smaller body had been sent to plunder the sacred 
treasury at Delphi. The inhabitants, alarmed at their numbers, con- 
sulted the oracle, and were told that " the arms of Apollo were suf- 
ficient for the defence of his shrine." Encouraged by this response, 
they posted themselves in the defiles of Mount Parnassus, having first 
sent their women and children to a place of safety. The Persians, 
who had often heard of the fame of Delphi, could scarcely control 
their superstitious fears as they approached the sacred sanctuary ; 
and a fearful storm which arose as they passed through a narrow defile 
threw them into remediless consternation. The Delphians showered 
rocks and trunks of trees from the mountain-tops ; their fierce shouts 
mingling with the noise of the storm, and repeated by a thousand 
echoes, completed the terror of the invaders : they hasted to fly from 
the valley in which they were entangled, but confusion impeded their 
flight. The Delphians charged the disordered multitudes, and slew 
them by thousands without meeting any resistance. The miserable 
remnant that escaped fied to join the other division at Athens, spread- 
ing everywhere the news of the divine vengeance, by which they 
supposed that their impious attempt was punished. 

But though the confederates had been thus obliged to abandon 
Athens to the fury of the enemy, they were by no means disposed to 
let them overrun the whole country. They took possession of Pelo- 
ponnesus, built a wall across the isthmus that joined it to the conti- 
nent, and committed the defence of that important post to Cleombro- 
tus, the brother of Leonidas. In adopting this measure they were 
unanimous, as being the most prudent that could be embraced : but 
this was not the case with regard to the operations of the fleet. 

Eurybiades was for bringing it into the neighbourhood of the isth- 
mus, so that the sea forces might act in conjunction. Themistocles 
was of quite a different opinion, and maintained that it would be the 
height of folly to abandon so advantageous a post as that of Salamis, 



100 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



where tliey were now stationed. They were now, he said, in posses- 
sion of the narrow seas, where the number of the enemy's ships could 
never avail them ; that the only hope left the Athenians was their 
fleet, which must not capriciously be given up to the enemy. Eury- 
biades, who considered himself as glanced at by this speech, could 
not contain his resentment, but lifted up his cane in a menacing man- 
ner. "Strike," cried the Athenian, "strike, but hear me." His 
moderation and his reasoning prevailed ; and it was therefore re- 
solved to await the enemy's fleet at Salamis. Fearful, however, that 
the confederates might change their mind, Themistocles had recourse 
to one of those stratagems which mark superior genius. He con- 
trived to have it privately intimated to Xerxes, that the confederates 
were now assembled at Salamis, preparing for flight, and that it would 
be an easy matter to attack and destroy them. The artifice suc- 
ceeded. Xerxes gave orders to his fleet to block up Salamis by night, 
in order to prevent an escape that would have frustrated his hopes of 
vengeance. 

Aristides, who commanded a small body of troops at ^gina, no 
sooner heard of the apparently dangerous situation of Themistocles, 
than, ignorant of the real cause of all these manoeuvres, and actually 
thinking him in danger, he ventured in a small boat by night through 
the Avhole fleet of the enemy. Upon landing, he repaired to the tent 
of Themistocles, and addressed him in the following manner : " If we 
are wise, Themistocles, we shall henceforth lay aside all those frivo- 
lous and puerile dissensions which have hitherto divided us. One 
strife, and a noble one it is, now remains for us, which of us shall be 
most serviceable to our country. It is yours to command ns a gene- 
ral ; it is mine to obey as a subject ; and happy shall I be if ray ad- 
vice can any way contribute to yours and my country's glory." He 
then informed him of the fleet's real situation, and warmly exhorted 
him to give battle without delay. Themistocles felt all that gratitude 
which so generous and disinterested a conduct deserved ; and eager 
to make a proper return, he immediately let him into all his schemes 
and projects, particularly this last, of suffering himself to be blocked 
up. After this they exerted their joint influence with the other com- 
manders to persuade them to engage; and accordingly both fleets 
prepared for battle. 

The Grecian fleet consisted of three hundred and eighty ships ; that 
of the Persians was much more numerous. But whatever advantage 
they had in numbers and the size of their vessels, they fell infinitely 
short of the Greeks in naval skill, and in their acquaintance with the 
seas where they fought. But it was chiefly on the superior abilities of 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



101 



their commanders that the Greeks placed their hopes of success. Euryhi- 
ades had nominally the command of the fleet, but Themistocles directed 
all its operations. He, knowing that a periodical wind, which would 
be favourable, would soon set in, delayed the attack till that time ; 
and this had no sooner arisen than the signal was given for battle, and 
the Grecian fleet sailed forward in exact order. 




As the Persians now fought under the eye of their sovereign, who 
beheld the action from a neighbouring promontory, they exerted them- 
selves for some time with great spirit ; but their courage abated when 
they came to a closer engagement. The numerous disadvantages of 
circumstances and situation then began to appear. The wind blew 
directly in their faces ; the height and heaviness of their vessels ren- 
dered them unwieldy and almost useless ; and even the number of 
their ships only served to embarrass and perplex them in that narrow 
sea. The lonians, mindful of their Hellenic descent, w^ere far from 
being anxious for a victory that would have enslaved the land of their 
fathers ; in the very first onset many of them fled, while others de- 
serted to the Greeks. The Phoenician galleys being thus disordered, 
and their flanks exposed, dashed against each other, and crowded into 
a confused mass, deprived of all power of action. The Athenians, 
with consummate skill, increased the confusion by forcing fresh hostile 
ships into the narrow space in which the Phoenicians were entangled. 



102 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



And thus, as the poet iEschylus, Avho personally shared in the battle, 
declares, the whole Persian fleet " was caught and destroyed like fish 
in a net." 

In the general consternation which this occasioned, Artemisia, queen 
of Halicarnassus, who had come to the assistance of Xerxes Avith five 
ships, exerted herself with so much spirit, that the monarch was heard 
to say, his soldiers behaved like women in the conflict, and the women 
like soldiers. Her glory, however, is sullied by the unjustifiable 
means which she made use of to escape from the fatal strait. The 
Athenian captain Ameinias, the brother of the poet iEschylus, had 
distinguished himself above all his compeers, by superior skill in the 
management of his vessel, and by the havoc which he made in the 
hostile fleet. As he bore down against the galley of Artemisia, the 
queen, aware that resistance would be useless, ordered her pilot to 
run her ship against the galley of a Lycian prince, with whom she 
had been at variance. The Lycian vessel was run down, and all on 
board perished ; Ameinias, conjecturing from this that the queen's 
ship was one of those that had deserted to the Greeks, gave over the 
pursuit, and Artemisia was enabled to continue her flight in safety. 
Nothing, however, could repair the disorder that had now taken place 
in the Persian fleet. They fled on all sides ; some of them were sunk, 
and more taken ; above two hundred were burnt, and all the rest 
entirely dispersed. 

Such was the issue of the battle of Salamis, in which the Persians 
received a more severe blow than any they had hitherto experienced 
from Greece. Themistocles is said to have been so elated with this 
victory, that he proposed breaking down the bridge over the Helles- 
pont, and thus cutting ofl" the retreat of the enemy ; but from this he 
was dissuaded by Aristidcs, who represented the danger of reducing 
so powerful an army to despair. The trophy presented to Themis- 
tocles for this victory was the greatest triumph of his life. 

Xerxes, however, seems to have been so apprehensive of this step 
being taken, that, after leaving about three hundred thousand of his 
best troops behind him under Mardonius, not so much with a view of 
conquering Greece as in order to prevent a pursuit, he hastened back 
with the rest to the Hellespont, where, finding the bridge broken 
down with the violence of the waves, he was obliged to pass over in 
a small boat ; and this manner of leaving Europe, when compared 
with his ostentatious entry, rendered his disgrace the more poignant 
and afflicting. 

Nothing could exceed the joy of the Greeks upon the victory they 
had obtained at Salamis. It was customary after a battle for the 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



105 




Flight cf Xerxes. 



commanding ofScers to declare who had distinguished themselves 
most, by giving in the names of such as merited the first and second 
rewards. On this occasion, each officer concerned adjudged the first 
rank to himself, but all allowed the second to Themistocles, which 
was, in fact, allowing him a tacit superiority. This was farther con- 
firmed by the Lacedicmonians, who carried him in triumph to Sparta ; 
and having adjudged the reward of valour to their own countryman, 
Eurybiades, adjudged that of wisdom to Themistocles. They crowned 
him with olive, presented him with a rich chariot, and conducted him 
with three hundred horse to the confines of their state. But there 
was a homage paid to him that flattered his pride yet more : when he 
appeared at the Olympic games, before all the states of Greece assem- 
bled, the spectators received him with uncommon acclamations. As 
soon as he appeared, the whole assembly rose up to do him honour ; 
nobody regarded either the games or combatants ; Themistocles was 
the only object worthy their attention. Struck with such flattering 
honours, he could not help exclaiming, that he that day reaped the 
fruits of all his labours. 

Mardonius, having passed the winter in Thessaly, led his forces in 
the spring into the province of Boeotia, and thence sent Alexander, 
king of Macedonia, Avith very tempting proposals to the Athenians, 
hoping by that means to detach them from the general interests of 



106 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



Greece.* He offered to rebuild their cit}^ to present them with a 
considerable sum of money, to allow them to enjoy their laws and 
liberties, and to bestow upon them the government of all Greece. 
The Spartans were afraid that the Athenians might bo prevailed on 
to accept these proposals ; they therefore sent ambassadors to Athens, 
in order to dissuade them from so base a conduct. 

The Athenians rejected the tempting offer of Mardonius, and 
severely censured the Spartans for supposing that, to secure their 
private interest, they would desert the general cause of Greece ; at 
the same time they entreated their allies to join them as speedily as 
possible, in order to repel a second invasion of Attica, which Mardo- 
nius, irritated at the Athenian obstinacy, would probably attempt. 

This conjecture was justified by the event. In a few weeks, Mardo- 
nius, having broken up from his winter quarters in Thessaly, marched 
with all his forces directly towards Attica, where there was neither 
fortress nor army capable of making any resistance. Messenger after 
messenger was sent to claim the promised aid of Sparta, but all in 
vain ; that state, with the selfishness which cliaractcvizes and disgraces 
its entire history, neglected every summons. They had completed 
the fortification of the Corintliiau isthmus, and having thus provided, 
as they believed, for the security of the Peloponnesus, they aban- 
doned northern Greece to the vengeance of the Persians. 

Deserted a second time by the confederates, the Athenians again 
retired to Salamis, and witnessed from its shores the flames that con- 
sumed their houses and temples. Every thing that had been spared 
in the first invasion was destroyed in the second ; but still the deter- 
mination of the Athenians was not changed. They even stoned 
Lyciadas, a senator, to death, for daring to propose a surrender, and 
his wife and children met with the same fate from the women. 

The deputies from Platrea and Megara united with the ambassadors 
from Athens in reproaching the Spartans for their disgraceful aban- 
donment of the common cause. The Spartans for some time turned 
a deaf car to their complaints, until at length the Athenians hinted 
the probability of their being compelled to accept the offers of Mardo- 
nius, and pointed out to the Spartans how vain would be the wall 



■■' The Thehans, who had perfidiously deserted the common cause, added to their 
baseness by giving Mardonius advice, which, had he followed, would more eil'ectually 
have reduced Greece under his power thau all the force of his arms. "You have 
only," said the}', "to bribe the leading men in the several republics, and you will 
divide each state into factions ; engage them in a civil war, and, when exhausted by 
mutual hostilities, they will readily submit to your demands." Instead of following 
this detestable though prudent advice, Mardonius proceeded as is related in the text. 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 109 



across the isthmus, when the Persian fleet, united with that of Athens, 
would triumphantly sweep the seas, and harass the coast of the Pelo- 
ponnesus. They immediately resolved to take the field, the different 
southern states were summoned to send in their contingents, and 
Pausanias, one of the Lacedoemonian kings, was appointed to the 
command of the combined forces. 

The Grecian army was now assembled to the number of seventy 
thousand men. Of these, five thousand were Spartans, attended by 
thirty-five thousand Helots. The Athenians amounted to eight thou- 
sand, and the troops of the allies made up the rest. With this army 
the Greeks resolved to oppose Mardonius, though at the head of no 
less than three hundred thousand men. That general, fearing to be 
attacked in the hilly country of Attica, where he could not avail 
himself of his great superiority of numbers, had lately returned into 
Boeotia, and encamped his troops on the banks of the river iEsopus. 
Thither he was pursued by the Grecians ; but as neither side could 
begin the attack without encountering great disadvantage, the two 
armies continued in sight of each other for the space of ten days, 
both equally eager for battle, and yet both afraid to strike the first 
blow. 

It was during this interval that a mutiny had nearly arisen in the 
Grecian army about the post of honour. All parties allowed the 
Spartans the command of the right wing ; but the Tegfeans alleged 
that they were better entitled by their past services to the command 
of the left than the Athenians, who now occupied it. This dissension 
might have produced very fatal effects, had it not been for the mode- 
ration and magnanimity of Aristides, who commanded the Athenians, 
and who addressed himself to the Spartans and the rest of the con- 
federates in the following manner : — " It is not now a time, my friends, 
to dispute about the merits of past services ; for all boasting is vain 
in the day of danger. Let it be the brave man's pride to own, that 
it is not the post or station which gives courage, or which can take it 
away. I head the Athenians ; whatever post you shall assign us we 
will maintain it, and will endeavour to make our station, wherever we 
are placed, the post of true honour and military glory. We are come 
hither not to contend with our friends, but to fight with our enemies ; 
not to boast of our ancestors, but to imitate them. This battle will 
distinguish the merit of each city ; and the lowest sentinel will share 
with his commander the honour of tfie day." This speech determined 
the council of war in favour of the Athenians, who thereupon were 
allowed to maintain their former station. 

Meanwhile the Grecians, beginning to be straitened for want of 



110 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



water, resolved to retreat to a place where tliey miglit be more plenti- 
fully supplied with that necessary article. As their removal was in 
the night, much disorder ensued ; and in the morning, Mardonius, 
construing their retreat into a flight, immediately pursued them, and 
coming up with them near the little city of Platisa, attacked them 
with great impetuosity. His ardour, however, was soon checked by 
the Spartans, who brought up the rear of the Grecian army, and who, 
throwing themselves into a phalanx, stood impenetrable and immo- 
vable against all the assaults of the enemy. At the same time, the 
Athenians, being informed of the attack, quickly returned, and, after 
defeating a body of Greeks in Persian pay, came to the assistance of 
the Spartans, just as these last had completed the overthrow of the 
enemy. For Mardonius, enraged at seeing his men give way, rushed 
into the thickest of the ranks in order to restore the battle, and was 
killed by Aimnestus, a Spartan. Upon this, the whole army betook 
themselves to flight. Artabazus, with a body of forty thousand men, 
fled towards the Hellespont : the rest retreated to their camp, and 
there endeavoured to defend themselves with wooden ramparts ; but 
these being quickly broken down, the confederates rushed in upon 
them with irresistible fury, and, eager to rid the country of such 
terrible invaders, sternly refused them quarter, putting upwards of a 
hundred thousand of them to the sword. Thus ended the invasion 
of Greece by the Persians ; nor ever after was an army from Persia 
seen to cross the Hellespont. We have already observed that Aris- 
tides commanded the Athenians in this important action ; the Spar- 
tans were headed by Cleombrotus ; and Pausanias, a Lacediemonian, 
was the commander-in-chief. 

The battle was no sooner over, than the Greeks, to testify their 
gratitude to heaven, caused a statue of Jupiter to be made at the 
public expense, and placed in his temple at Olympia. On the right 
side of the pedestal were engraved the names of the several nations 
of Greece that were present in the engagement. The Spartans had 
the first place, the Athenians the second, and the rest succeeded in 
order. 

The successes of the Greeks were as rapid as they were important. 
On the very evening of the day on which the victory of Plataja was 
won, another, equally glorious, was obtained at INIycale, on the coast 
of Ionia. • 

After the defeat of Salamis, the remains of the Persian fleet retired 
to Samos ; but the Greeks lost no time in pursuing them. The con- 
federates on this occasion were headed by Leotychides, the Spartan, 
and Xanthippus, the Athenian. The Persians were no sooner in- 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 113 



formed of their approach, than, conscious of their OTvn inferiority by 
sea, they drew up their ships upon dry land at Mycale, and fortified 
them with a wall and deep trench, while they at the same time pro- 
tected them with an army of sixty thousand men, under the command 
of Tigranes. But nothing could secure them from the fury of the 
Grecians, who, immediately coming on shore, and dividing themselves 
into two bodies, the Athenians and Corinthians advanced directly on 
the plain, while the Lacedaemonians fetched a compass over hills and 
precipices, in order to take possession of a rising ground. But before 
these last arrived, the former had entirely put the enemy to flight, 
and, on being joined by the Spartans, soon forced their way through 
the Persian ramparts, and set all their ships on fire ; so that nothing 
could be more complete than the victory now obtained. Tigranes, 
the Persian general, with forty thousand of his men, lay dead on the 
field of battle ; the fleet was destroyed ; and of the great army which 
Xerxes brought into Europe, scarcely a single man remained to carry 
back the news of its defeat. 

No sooner were the Greeks freed from the apprehensions of a 
foreign foe, (b. c. 478,) than they began to entertain jealousies of 
each other ; and the first symptoms of this dangerous spirit appeared in a 
misunderstanding that took place between the Athenians and Spartans. 
The former, with their families, being returned to their own country, 
began to rebuild the city ; and as its late state of weakness had ren- 
dered it so easy a prey to the Persians, they now formed a plan for 
strengthening and extending the walls, and giving it for the future a 
greater degree of security. This excited the jealousy of the Lace- 
diemonians, who could not bear to see any of the other states of 
Greece upon an equal footing with themselves. They therefore sent 
ambassadors to dissuade the Athenians from this undertaking : but 
being ashamed to avow their real motive, they alleged the great de- 
triment which these fortifications would prove to the general interests 
of Greece, if ever they should fall into the hands of the enemy. 
Themistocles, who then guided the councils of Athens, at once saw 
through their design, and resolved to meet their duplicity with equal 
dissimulation. He therefore told them that the Athenians would 
soon send an embassy to Sparta, and fully satisfy all their scruples : 
and having procured himself to be chosen for this purpose, he by 
studied delays kept the Spartans in suspense until the works were 
completely finished. He then boldly threw ofi" the mask, and declared 
that Athens was now in a condition to defend herself against any 
enemy, either foreign or domestic ; that what she had done was per- 
fectly consistent with the law of nations and the common interests of 



114 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



Greece ; and added, that if any violence were offered to his person, 
the Athenians would retaliate upon the Spartan ambassadors who 
were now in their hands. In consequence of this spirited conduct, 
the ambassadors on both sides were suffered quietly to depart ; and 
Themistocles, upon his arrival in Athens, was received as if he had 
been returning from a triumph. 

The confederates, being thus left at liberty to turn their arms 
against their foreign foes, instead of drawing their swords against one 
another, fitted out a powerful fleet. Pausanias commanded the 
Spartans ; the Athenians were conducted by Aristides, and Cimon 
the son of Miltiades. They first directed their course to the isle of 
Cyprus, where they set all the cities free ; but from some unknown 
cause, the authority of the Persians was soon re-established in that 
island. Then, steering towards the Hellespont, they attacked the 
city of Byzantium, of which they made themselves masters ; and, 
besides the vast quantity of plunder which they found in it, took a 
great number of prisoners, many of whom were of the richest and 
most considerable families of Persia. But whatever the Greeks 
gained upon this occasion in fame and authority, they lost in the 
purity and simplicity of their manners. The deluge of wealth poured 
in upon them from this quarter naturally tended to corrupt their 
minds ; and from this time forward, neither the magistrates nor the 
people valued themselves, as formerly, on their personal merit, but 
merely on account of their riches and possessions. The Athenians, 
being a polite people, bore this change for some time with tolerable 
moderation ; but the contagion immediately broke out among the 
Spartans with all its native virulence. It seems to have inspired 
Pausanias, who was naturally of a haughty and imperious temper, and 
who had forfeited the good opinion not only of the neighbouring states, 
but also of his own subjects, with the ambitious hopes of raising him- 
self to a still higher rank. He offered to deliver up Sparta, and 
even all Greece, to Xerxes, provided that prince would give him his 
daughter in marriage. How long this conspiracy was carried on is 
uncertain : Pausanias ^s twice tried, and twice acquitted for want 
of sufficient evidence against him. The wicked means which he took 
to conceal his guilt at length became the cause of his detection. A 
slave whom he had employed to convey a letter to one of the Persian 
satraps, remembering that no former messengers had returned, opened 
the despatch, and found that it contained orders to put him to de?ith, 
as the best means of insuring his secrecy. He conveyed the letter 
without delay to the Spartan magistrates, who immediately made 
every preparation for completing the proofs of the guilt of Pausanins 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



117 



previous to his arrest. But just as the ephori were upon the point 
of seizing him, he took refuge in the temple of Minerva, "where the 
sanctity of the place preventing his being dragged forth, the people 
blocked up the entry -with large stones, and, tearing off the roof, left 
him to die of cold and hunger, (b. c. 475.) Thus perished the man 
who had led on the troops of Greece to victory in the battle of Platsea. 




The fate of Pausanias soon after involved that of Themistocles, who 
had some time before been banished, and lived in great esteem at 
Argos. The occasion of his banishment was this : he had built near 
his house a temple in honour of Diana, with this inscription, " To 
Diana, the goddess of good counsel ;" thereby insinuating the benefit 
his counsels had been of to his country, and the little gratitude his 
fellow-citizens had shown in rewarding them. He was now accused, 
not only of having been privy to the designs of Pausanias, without 



118 



SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 



revealing them to the state — which part of the charge, indeed, seems 
to have been well founded — but likewise of having approved and fa- 
voured those designs ; a crime of which it appears he was altogether 
guiltless. The Spartans, however, who had always been his enemies, 
oow declared themselves his accusers before the assembly of the peo- 
ple of Athens ; and those of his countrymen who had formerly either 
dreaded his power or envied his popularity joined in the general 
charge against him. By these means the people were wrought up to 
such a degree of rage, that they clamoured for his death with great 
vehemence; and persons were actually sent to seize and bring him 
before the general council of Greece. Fortunately, however, he had 
notice of their design, and saved himself by a precipitate flight. He 
first took refuge in the island of Corcyra. Thence he repaired to the 
court of Admetus, king of the Molossians ; but that prince not being 
able to afford him any long or certain protection, he at last went over 
to Sardis, where, throwing himself prostrate before the Persian mo- 
narch, he boldly declared his name, his country, and his misfortunes. 
"I have done," cried he, "my ungrateful country services more 
than once ; and I am now come to olfer those services to you. My 
life is in your hands ; you may now exert your clemency, or display 
your vengeance. By the former you will preserve a faithful suppliant ; 
by the latter you will destroy the greatest enemy of Greece." The 
king made him no answ^er at this audience, though he was struck with 
admiration at his eloquence and intrepidity ; but he soon gave loose 
to his joy for the event. He told his courtiers that he considered the 
arrival of Themistocles as a very happy incident ; and wished that 
his enemies would always pursue the same destructive policy of ba- 
nishing from among them the good and wise. He gave him the re- 
venues of three cities for his support, and maintained him in the utmost 
affluence and splendour. 





ISOCRATES. 




HEN we hear of men wlio have attained great eminence 
in ■wisdom and virtue, we naturally wish to know hy 
what means they became superior to those around them. 
f Our curiosity has not, however, been gratified with 
many particulars respecting the early life of Socrates. 
His father, Sophronicus, was a statuary, and he was himself brought 
up in the practice of the same art, in which there is reason to believe 
that he made great proficiency ; since his statues of the Habited 
Graces were judged worthy of a place on the wall of the citadel of 
Athens, behind the statue of Minerva. In the age and city Avhich 
produced such a master of that art as Phidias, one cannot suppose 
that the work of Socrates would have obtained this honour if he had 

119 



120 ■ SOCRATES. 



been a bungler in his profession. He probably continued to exercise 
this art till he was nearly thirty years of age, when Crito, a noble 
Athenian, observing his disposition to study, and admiring his inge- 
nuous temper and powerful understanding, thought that such a man 
might be more usefully employed than in making statues, and placed 
him with his children, as their preceptor. In this situation he had 
an opportunity of attending the lectures of the most celebrated philo- 
sophers of that time. 

This was the usual method of instruction in the age of Socrates : 
books were then so scarce, that few could study in retirement. Know- 
ledge was therefore communicated in discourse ; and the public walks, 
the porticoes, and places appropriated to bodily exercises, were re- 
sorted to for the improvement of the mind. 

While Socrates listened to these discussions, his thoughts took 
another direction; and as he had hitherto admired proportion and 
order in the different parts of the statues which he Avas employed in 
carving, he now began to feel the beaut}'' of regularity in the charac- 
ters and manners of men. This easy transition of taste from natu- 
ral to moral beauty is admirably described by one of the poets : — 

" The attentive mijid, 
Ey this liarmouious action on lior powers, 
Becomes herself harmonious ; ■wont so oft 
In outward things to meditate the charm 
Of sacred order, soon she secies at home 
To find a kindred order, to exert 
Within herself this elegance of love, 
This fair inspired delight ; her temper'd powers 
Refine at length, and every passion wears 
A chaster, milder, more attractive mien." 

The philosophevs v/hosc lectures Socrates attended were chiefly oc- 
cupied in discussing difficult and curious questions, which it was either 
impossible or useless to answer. The formation of the world, and the 
laws which govern the motions of the heavenly bodies, also engaged 
their attention. In these speculations Socrates made an uncommon 
progress ; but he soon perceived that the happiness of men was but 
little promoted by these studies. He therefore resolved to call phi- 
losophy down from heaven, where she had been vainly striving to ac- 
count for the motions of the planets, and the revolution of the sea- 
sons, that she miglit assist in the regulation of tliat little world which 
the Deity has put into our j)o\ver. 

He now applied himself in earnest to the study of the heart of man, 
and endeavoured to find the most effectual means of governing his 



SOCRATES. 121 



! passions, and directing his reason. He lived for some time as a pri- 
vate citizen, in humble life, distinguished only for his wisdom and 
virtue, and for the exactness of his obedience to the laws of his coun- 
try. At length, when he was about thirty-six years old, he was called 
into a more active scene. 

Potidsea, a town situated on the isthmus which joins the little 
peninsula of Pallene to the continent of Thrace, or Macedonia, 
(for historians do not agree respecting the boundaries of those 
countries,) revolted from the Athenians, to whom they had for 
some time been tributary. The cause of this revolt was the un- 
just use of power on the part of the Athenians. Potidaiia, though 
at that time dependent on Athens, was a Corinthian colony ; and the 
Athenians, fearing it might shake off their yoke, and regain the pro- 
tection of Corinth, commanded the inhabitants to demolish their for- 
tifications on the side next to Pallene; to place hostages in their 
hands, as securities for their obedience ; and to dismiss the Corinthian 
magistrates who had hitherto governed their city. To these humi- 
liating conditions the Potidaeans refused to accede. They declared 
war against the Athenians, and many neighbouring towns followed 
their example. Injustice having thus made a beginning, ambition 
and revenge hastened to complete the work. Alas ! could the Athe- 
nians have foreseen the miseries and humiliations which were soon to 
fall upon themselves, how differently would they have acted ! Corinth 
sent an army to the reli«f of the Potidreans. Athens also sent troops 
to compel them to obedience. And now Socrates, who thought it his 
duty to support the measures of his country, though he had as yet 
taken no share in the government, exchanged his contemplative life 
of a philosopher for the bustle and activity of a camp. Ever anxious 
to exert his powers to the utmost in the public service, he endured, 
beyond any of his companions in arms, the privations and fatigues of 
war. Hunger, thirst, and cold, were enemies with which he had long 
accustomed himself to contend, and therefore the severity of the cli- 
mate affected him less than anybody. The Thracian winters were 
then extremely severe ; and when but few of the soldiers would ven- 
ture to go out of their tents on account of the cold, and those who 
did, wrapped themselves in warm furs, Socrates accompanied them in 
his common clothing, and walked barefoot on the ice with more ala- 
crity than those who were so warmly clad. This astonished the sol- 
diers, who considered his hardiness as a reproach to themselves. 

Our philosopher not only surprised the soldiers by his hardiness, 
but delighted them by his wit and gayety, which made him the life of 
every company ; for, during this expedition, they had times of feast- 



122 



SOCRATES. 



ing as well as of privation, and whetlier the business of the day was 
enjoyment or suffering, Socrates equally distinguished himself, though 
he was careful not to exceed the bounds of temperance. AVhen the 
Athenians invested Potidsea, many skirmishes took place between 
them and the Corinthians. In one of these, a noble Athenian youth, 
named Alcibiades, was severely wounded. Socrates, seeing him lie 
in this sad condition on the ground, stepped before him, defended 
him courageously, prevented the enemy from taking possession of his 
arms, and at length brought him off safely, in sight of the whole 
army. The prize of valour was considered as justly due to Socrates 
for this brave action, but he modestly declined it. To him the plea- 
sure of doing his duty appears to have been reward sufficient ; and we 
are told, that the honourable testimony -nhich he bore to the credit 
of young Alcibiades had such weight with the judges, that they be- 
stowed upon him the crown and suit of armour which had been in- 
tended for Socrates. 

The check which their Corinthian allies had received in this action 
did not change the resolution of the inhabitants of Potid^a. They 
persisted in refusing to obey the unjust commands of the Athenians, 
and the city was therefore closely besieged, both by sea and land. The 
Corinthians, not liking to give up a place colonized by themselves, ap- 
pealed to the Lacedaemonians, who, notwithstanding the wise remon- 
strances of their kin"; Archidamus, consented to engasre in the war. 
As they had not, however, made the necessary preparations, they 
sent ambassadors to Athens, by way of gaining time. These depu- 
ties, among other offensive demands, were instructed to desire that 
the siege of Potidrea should be raised. The Athenians, confident in 
their strensrth, were more inclined to defend their afriiressions than to 
accede to the terms proposed. The ambassadors returned to Sparta, 
and the Pcloponnesian war began soon afterward, which ended in the 
complete humiliation of Athens. 





Socrates receiving the cup of poison. 



DEATH OF SOCRATES. 



^^ ,^ OCRATES' disciple, Xenophon, begins his Me- 
i^^^o* niorials of his revered master, with declaring 
his wonder how the Athenians could have 
been persuaded to condemn to death a man 
A of such uncommonly clear innocence and exalted 
r| worth, .^lian, though his authority will bear no 
comparison with Xenophon's, has, I think, nevertheless 
given the solution. " Socrates," he says, " disliked 
the Athenian constitution. For he saw that democracy is tyrannical, 
and abounds with all the evils of absolute monarchy." But though 
the political circumstances of the times made it necessary for contem- 
porary writers to speak with caution, yet both Xenophon and Plato 
have declared enough to show that the assertion of -^lian was well- 

123 




-^x^ 



124 DEATH OF SOCRATES. 



founded; and farther proof, were it wanted, may be derived from 
another early writer, nearly contemporary, and deeply versed in the 
politics of his age, the orator ^schines. Indeed, though not stated 
in the indictment, yet it was urged against Socrates, by his prosecu- 
tors before the court, that he was disafi'ected to the democracy ; and 
in proof they aflSlrmed it to be notorious that he had ridiculed what 
the Athenian constitution prescribed, the appointment to magistracy 
by lot. " Thus," they said, " he taught his numerous followers, 
youths of the principal families of the city, to despise the established 
government, and to be turbulent and seditious ; and his success had 
been seen in the conduct of two, the most eminent, Alcibiades and 
Critias. Even the best things he converted to these evil purposes. 
From the most esteemed poets, and particularly from Homer, he se- 
lected passages to enforce his anti-democratical principles." 

Socrates, it appears, indeed, was not inclined to deny his disappro- 
bation of the Athenian constitution. His defence itself, as it is 
reported by Plato, contains matter on which to found an accusation 
against him of disaiTection to the sovereignty of the people, such as, 
under the jealous tyranny of the Athenian democracy, would some- 
times subject a man to the penalties of high-treason. " You well know," 
he says, " Athenians, that had I engaged in public business, I should 
long ago have perished, without procuring any advantage either to 
you or to myself. Let not the truth offend you : it is no peculiarity 
of your democracy, nor of your national character; but wherever the 
people is sovereign, no man who shall dare honestly to oppose injus- 
tice, frequent and extravagant injustice, can avoid destruction." 

Without this proof, indeed, we might reasonably believe, that though 
Socrates was a good and faithful subject of the Athenian government, 
and would promote no sedition, no political violence, yet he could not 
like the Athenian constitution. He wished for wholesome changes 
by gentle means ; and it seems even to have been a principal object 
of the labours to which he dedicated himself, to infuse principles into 
the rising generation that might bring about the desirable change 
insensibly. His scholars were chiefly sons of the wealthiest citizens, 
Avhose easy circumstances afforded leisure to attend him ; and some 
of these zealously adopting his tenets, others merely pleased with the 
ingenuity of his arguments and the liveliness of his manner, and de- 
sirous to emulate his triumphs over his opponents, were forward, 
after his example, to engage in disputation upon all the subjects on 
which he was accustomed to discourse. Thus employed, and thus fol- 
lowed, though himself avoiding office and public business, those who 
governed, or desired to govern, the commonwealth, through their influ- 



DEATH OF SOCRATES. 



125 



ence among the many, might, perhaps, not unreasonably, consider 
him as one who was, or might become, a formidable adversary ; and 
at the same time it might not be difficult to excite popular jealousy 
against him. 

Melitus, who stood forward as his principal accuser, was, as Plato 
informs us, no way a man of any great consideration. His legal de- 
scription gives some probability to the conjecture, that his father was 
one of the commissioners sent to Lacedeemon from the moderate party, 
who opposed the ten successors of the Thirty Tyrants while Thrasy- 
bulus held PiraBus, and Pausanias was encamped before Athens. He 
was a poet, and stood forward as in a common cause of the poets, who 
esteemed the doctrine of Socrates injurious to their interest. Unsup- 
ported, his accusation would have been little formidable ; but he seems 
to have been a mere instrument in the business. He was soon joined 
by Lycon, one of the most powerful speakers of his time. Lycon was 
the avowed patron of the rhetoricians, who, as well as the poets, 
thought their interest injured by the moral philosopher's doctrine. I 
know not that on any other occasion in Grecian history, we have any 
account of this kind of party interest operating ; but from circum- 
stances nearly analogous in England, if we substitute for poets the 
clergy, and for rhetoricians the lawyers, we may gather what might 
be the party spirit, and what the weight of influence of the rhetori- 
cians and poets in Athens. With Lycon, Anytus, a man scarcely 
second to any in the commonwealth in rank and general estima- 
tion, who had supported high command with reputation in the Pelo- 
ponnesian war, and had been the principal associate of Thrasybulus 
in the war against the Thirty, and the restoration of the democracy, 
declared himself a supporter of the prosecution. Nothing in the accu- 
sation could, by any known law of Athens, affect the life of the ac- 
cused. In England, no man would be put upon trial on so vague a 
charge : no grand jury would listen to it. But in Athens, if the 
party was strong enough, it signified little what was the law. When 
Lycon and Anytus came forward, Socrates saw that his condemnation 
was already decided. 

By the course of his life, however, and by the turn of his thoughts 
for many years, he had so prepared himself for all events, that, far 
from alarmed at the probability of his condemnation, he rather rejoiced 
at it, as, at his age, a fortunate occurrence. He was persuaded of the 
soul's immortality, and of the superintending providence of an all- 
good Deity, whose favour he had always been assiduously endeavour- 
ing to deserve. Men fear death, he said, as if unquestionably the 
greatest evil ; and yet no man knows that it may not be the greatest 



126 DEATH OF SOCRATES. 



good. If, indeed, great joys were in prospect for him, he and his 
friends might, with more show of reason, regret his losing it ; but at 
his years, and with his scanty fortune, on the contrary, though he 
was happy enough at seventy still to preserve both body and mind in 
vigour, yet even his present gratifications must necessarily soon decay. 
To avoid, therefore, the evils of age, pain, sickness, decay of sight, 
decay of hearing, perhaps decay of understanding, by the easiest of 
deaths, (for such the Athenian mode of execution, by a draught of 
hemlock, was reputed,) cheered with the company of surrounding 
friends, could not be otherwise than a blessing. 

Xenophon says, that by condescending to a little supplication, 
Socrates might easily have obtained his acquittal. No admonition or 
entreaty of his friends, however, could persuade him to such an 
unworthiness. On the contrary, when put upon his defence, he told 
the people that he did not plead for his own sake, bv\t for theirs ; 
wishing them to avoid the guilt of an unjust condemnation. It was 
usual for accused persons to bewail their apprehended lot, Avith tears 
to supplicate favour, and, by exhibiting their children upon the bema, 
to endeavour to excite pity. lie thought it, he said, more respectful 
to the court, as well as more becoming himself, to omit all this ; 
though he was aware their sentiments were likely so far to differ from 
his, that judgment would be given in anger for it. 

Condemnation pronounced wrought no change upon him. He 
again addressed the court, declared his innocence of the matters laid 
against him, and observed, that even if every charge had been com- 
pletely proved, still jill together did not, according to any known law, 
amount to a capital crime. " But," in conclusion, he said, " it is 
time to depart ; I to die ; you to live : but which for the greater good, 
God only knows." 

It was usual at Athens for execution very soon to follow condem- 
nation, commonly on the morrow. But it happened that the con- 
demnation of Socrates took place on the eve of the day appointed for 
the sacred ceremony of crowning the galley which carried the annual 
offerings to the gods worshipped at Delos ; and immemorial tradition 
forbade all executions till the sacred vessel's return. Thus the death 
of Socrates was respited thirty days, and his friends had free access 
to him in prison. During all that time he admirably supported his 
constancy. Means were concerted for his escape ; the jailor was 
bribed, a vessel prepared, and a secure retreat in Thessaly provided. 
No arguments, no prayers, could persuade him to use the opportunity 
offered. He had, he said, always taught the duty of obedience to the 
laws, and he would not furnish an example of the breach of it. To no 



SI^KT^'- V^^i/iffJt.UUibil^ \ 




DEATH OP SOCRATES. 129 



purpose it was urged that he had been unjustly condemned : he had 
always held that wrong did not justify wrong. He waited with per- 
fect composure the return of the sacred vessel, reasoned on the im- 
mortality of the soul, the advantage of virtue, the happiness of 
having made it, through life, his pursuit ; and, with his friends about 
him, took the fatal cup and died. 

Writers who, after Xenophon and Plato, have related the death of 
Socrates, seem to have held themselves bound to vie with those 
who preceded them in giving pathos to the story. The purpose here 
has been rather to render it intelligible ; to show its connection with 
the political history of Athens ; to derive from it illustration of the 
political history of Athens. The magnanimity of Socrates, the prin- 
cipal eiScient of the pathos, surely deserves admiration ; yet it is not 
that in which he has most outshone other men. The circumstances of 
Lord Russel's fate were far more trying. Socrates, we may reason- 
ably suppose, would have borne Lord Russel's trial ; but, with Bishop 
Burnet for his eulogist, instead of Plato and Xenophon, he would not 
have had his present splendid fame. The singular merit of Socrates 
lay in the purity and the usefulness of his manners and conversation ; 
the clearness with which he saw, and the steadiness with which he 
practised, in a blind and corrupt age, all moral duties ; the disinte- 
restedness and the zeal with which he devoted himself to the benefit 
of others ; and the enlarged and warm benevolence, whence his 
supreme and almost only pleasure seems to have consisted in doing 
good. The purity of Christian morality, little enough, indeed, seen 
in practice, nevertheless is become so familiar in theory, that it passes 
almost obvious, and even congenial, to the human mind. Those only 
will justly estimate the merit of that near approach to it which 
Socrates made, who will take the pains to gather, as they may from 
the writings of his contemporaries and predecessors, how little con- 
ception was entertained of it before his time ; how dull to a just 
moral sense the human mind has really been ; how slow the progress 
in the investigation of moral duties, even where not only great pains 
have been taken, but the greatest abilities zealously employed ; and, 
when discovered, how difiicult it has been to establish them by proofs 
beyond controversy, or proofs even that should be generally admitted 
by the reason of men. It is through the light which Socrates 
diffused by his doctrine, enforced by his practice, with the advantage 
of having both the doctrine and the practice exhibited to highest 
advantage, in the incomparable writings of disciples, such as Xeno- 
phon and Plato, that his life forms an era in the history of Athens 
and of man. 

9 




Alcibiades 



ALCIBIADES AND THE PELOPONNESIAN WAPx. 




ALCIBIADES, the son of Cleinias, 
was one of the most distinguished 
statesmen and generals of Athens, 
during the eventful period of the Pe- 
loponnesian war. Descended on both 
sides from the most illustrious families 
of his country, born to the inheritance 
of great Avealth, endowed with extra- 
ordinary beauty of person, and with 
mental qualifications no less brilliant, 
it seemed evident from his early youth that he would exert no slight 
influence over the councils and the fortunes of Athens. This marked 
him out to Socrates as one on whom his moral influence might be 
exerted with beneficial results. The faults of Alcibiades were those 
of a spoilt child of fortune : he was fickle, selfish, overbearing, and 
extravagant. But these faults clouded, not concealed, his nobler 
qualities. Passionately fond of show and splendour, a frequent victor 
in the Olympic games, and possessed of a more criminal notoriety as 
a favoured suitor among the most dignified matrons of Athens, he 
never lost sight of more manly objects of ambition ; and he met the 
proffered friendship of Socrates with eagerness, as the surest means 
of acquiring that mental cultivation which at Athens was the best, 
130 



THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 131 



though not the only, key to political power. The philosopher soon 
acquired over his wayward pupil that influence which he seems to have 
exercised over all who came within his circle ; and the close intimacy 
which arose between these opposite characters was cemented by a 
singular reciprocity of benefits. In a battle fought near Potidaea, 
Socrates saved the life of Alcibiades, and the latter repaid the obli- 
gation by a similar service at the battle of Delium. But the influence 
of Socrates was insufiicient in this case to work a permanent change of 
character ; and the political life of Alcibiades proves that he had not 
profited much by the moral instructions of his master. 

He became an orphan at an early age, and was placed under the 
wardship of his uncle Pericles. After the death of Pericles, Alcibiades 
being then but a child, Nicias and Cleon succeeded to a divided influ- 
ence in the state : but, with increasing years, Alcibiades was natu- 
rally regarded as one likely to take a leading part in politics, and he 
was not slow to assert the influence which seemed his due. At first, 
he was inclined to cultivate the good-will of Sparta ; between which 
and his own family an ancient hereditary friendship had existed : but 
the Spartans, whose national character was utterly alien from that of 
the impetuous and volatile Athenian, chose rather to connect them- 
selves with Nicias. Alcibiades readily changed his politics when he 
found that, in that connection, he could not be the leading man, and 
became as violent in enmity as he might have been in friendship to 
Sparta, had his advances been more favourably received. 

His first opportunity of thwarting the wishes of Sparta, and his 
first prominent appearance in public life, occurred in the year 421 b. c. 
A truce had been concluded between Sparta and Athens, but consi- 
derable difiiculty arose in executing the terms of the treaty : much dis- 
satisfaction arose, in consequence, at Athens ; and it seemed a good 
opportunity to engage the people in a connection with Argos, always 
jealous of Sparta, and then at the head of a strong confederacy of 
Peloponnesian states. Ambassadors arrived from both these cities 
at the same time ; the Argians to solicit Athens to join their alliance, 
the Spartans with ample power to settle all disputed points ; for it 
was of first-rate importance to them to prevent a junction between 
Athens and Argos. The prospect of accommodation with Sparta 
was far from suiting the views of Alcibiades ; and he was not scrupu- 
lous as to the means by which it might be prevented. The ambassa- 
dors came with full powers to settle all points in dispute, and had 
made a statement to this effect before the council of five hundred. 
But before they were introduced to the general assembly of the 
citizens, Alcibiades persuaded them that, on account of the grasping 



132 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 



temper of the Athenians, it would be better not to state the full 
authority with which thej were vested. They followed his advice, to 
the great astonishment of Nicias, his party, and the whole council ; 
and were in turn equally surprised when Alcibiades attacked them 
violently, reproached them with prevai-ication, and made an animated 
appeal to the people in favour of the Argian alliance. After some 
hesitation, his proposition was agreed to ; and thus Athens was 
placed at the head of the principal confederacy of the Peloponnesus, 
and Alcibiades became the leading political character, not only of 
Athens, but of Greece. His age at this time is not certainly known, 
but it was from five-and-twenty to thirty. Thucydides calls him 
" still young." In 419, he was made Stratcgos, or chief military 
officer of Athens, and during the next three years he took a promi- 
nent and active part in the complicated struggle of intrigue and 
war carried on in Peloponnesus during that period. It is said by 
Plutarch, but apparently on uncertain report, that he was principally 
concerned in the detestable massacre of the Melians. 

About this time, the Athenian people were chiefly influenced by 
three men, each of whom was the leader of a strong party : Alci- 
biades, of the war or anti-Laconian party ; Nicias, of those who 
Avished for peace, and a sincere accommodation with Sparta. The 
third, Ilyperbolus, a mob-orator of the meanest class, influenced a 
large proportion of the poorest citizens, who were numerically for- 
midable in the general assembly. This man threw out no obscure 
hints of the expediency of banishing Alcibiades, as a person danger- 
ous to the commonwealth from his Avealth, power, and ambition ; and 
in the divided state of parties he might, perhaps, have eff"ected this, 
had not Alcibiades been assisted by Nicias, who dreaded and detested 
Ilyperbolus as cordially upon political as Alcibiades upon personal 
grounds. By their united eiforts, sentence of exile, under the form 
called ostracism, was passed on Hyperbolus. But the coalition lasted 
only till this was accomplished. Diametrically opposite in temper, 
as well as in politics, these rival statesmen could not bear divided 
power ; and, that Alcibiades might be supreme, it was necessary to 
excite some war, in which his own versatile talents might find scope 
for their display, and by Avhich the cupidity of the Athenians for both 
gain and glory might be gratified. 

Such an opportunity was aff"ordcd by an embassy from Egesta, a 
small town in Sicily, which had become opposed to Syracuse, by far 
the most powerful city of that island. The Syracusans, a Dorian 
people, were attached to the Spartan interest, although hitherto they 
had interfered little in the affairs of Greece proper. But they had 



THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 



133 



trenched materially on the independence of the Ionian cities of Sicily; 
and it was a plausible argument for taking part against Syracuse, that 
if no power remained capable of balancing hers, she might, at some 
future period, be inclined both by temper and by blood to unite with 
Lacedaemon against Athens. Alcibiades proposed, therefore, to send 

an armament to protect the 
Egestans, and to take any fur- 
ther measures which might 
strengthen the Athenian inte- 
rest in Sicily. The measure 
was in vain opposed by Nicias, 
and a decree passed, that a 
powerful fleet should be de- 
spatched thither. This was 
done; and the armament which 
sailed from the Pi rams, B. c. 
415, under the joint command 
of Nicias, Lamachus, and Alci- 
biades, was the most splendid 
one that ever left a Grecian 
port. Popular enthusiasm was 
strongly excited; the under- 
taking seemed to promise wealth 
and victory, and neither public 
nor private expense was spared 
to make the equipment as com- 
plete as possible. There sailed 
from Athens 100 ships, con- 
taining, besides their crews, 
2200 heavy-armed Athenian 
citizens ; and the tale of 134 
ships, and 5100 heavy-armed 
soldiers, besides slingers and 
bowmen, was made up by the 
allies and subject states. But, 
on arriving in Sicily, it was 
found (as probably Alcibiades well knew) that little help coukl be had 
from the Egestans. Nicias was for returning, Lamachus for laying 
siege at once to Syracuse. Alcibiades proposed to enter into nego- 
tiation with all the cities except Syracuse and Selinus, in the hope 
of securing a powerful party in the island before commencing hos- 
tilities with those two states. This plan was finally adopted; and 




134 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 



had the genius of Alcibiades continued to direct it, this unfortunate 
expedition might perhaps have terminated gloriously for Athens. 
But party strife at home led to his recall, and of the two generals 
•who remained, Lamachus a mere soldier, Nicias timid and disinclined 
to the w^hole business, neither was qualified to execute the plan of 
their enterprising colleague. But we must return a little, in the 
order of time, to explain the cause of Alcibiades' recall. 

It was usual to place a square block of stone, surmounted by a head 
of Mercury, before the doors of temples and houses in Athens, a relic 
of more simple times, in which the presence of the god was expected 
to guard the entrance from violence. Of these Hermse, as they were 
called, from the Greek name of the god, the greater part were defaced 
in one night. The next morning anger and tumult spread through 
the city. The act was generally believed to bode ill to the important 
expedition to Sicily, then in preparation ; it was even thought to indi- 
cate a design to overthrow the democracy. High rewards were offered 
for any information concerning the guilty persons ; and it came to light 
that a party of intoxicated young men had been concerned in the 
mutilation of a few statues some time before. Alcibiades was impli- 
cated in this charge, whicli, however, was entirely distinct from the 
act which had given such alarm and offence. But this and his other 
irregularities gave a colour to the accusation, which his enemies 
laboured to fix on him, of having contrived the mutilation of the 
Mercuries. lie came forward freely and eagerly to court an imme- 
diate trial, urging the inexpediency of sending out any man in a com- 
mand of high importance with such a charge hanging over his head. 
But the oligarchal party at present possessed the ear of the people, 
and it did not suit their purpose either to grant this reasonable 
request, or to deprive him of the command. No immediate investi- 
gation was made, and a vote was obtained that he should proceed on 
the voyage. But the agitation was kept up, and rose to an extra- 
ordinary height during his absence ; and the influence of his enemies 
was powerful enough to procure that decree of recall of which we have 
spoken, Alcibiades obeyed the summons, and quitted the fleet in his 
own trireme ; but believing that his death was resolved, he disappeared 
at Thurium in Italy, in company with other accused persons, and 
betook himself first to Argos, then to Sparta. 

By the injury which he did to his country after his exile, Alcibiades 
proved how much he might have done for her benefit, had the com- 
mand of her yet unbroken resources been continued in his hands. 
Restrained by no principle of patriotism, (a feeling not very common 
in Greece, where no party hesitated to call in foreign arms to 



THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 135 



strengthen their own hands,) he yet felt it necessary, in offering his 
services and counsels to Sparta, to make some apology for this step, 
and, as given by Thucydides, it is a very lame one : — " I love not my 
country as wronged by it, but as having lived in safety in it. Nor do 
I think that I do herein go against any country of mine, but that I 
far rather seek to recover the country I have not. And he is truly 
a lover of his country, not that refuseth to invade the country he hath 
wrongfully lost, but that desires so much to be in it, as by any means 
he can he will attempt to recover it." — (Thucyd. vi. 92.) The value 
of his services was soon shown. The Athenians had laid siege to 
Syracuse, and it seemed probable that it would fall into their hands. 
But at his suggestion a Lacedaemonian force commanded by a Spartan 
general was sent to Syracuse ; and in consequence of their timely aid 
the besieging force was totally destroyed. He also advised attacking 
the Athenians more vigorously at home, and at his suggestion De- 
celeia, a town of Attica, within fifteen miles of Athens, was fortified 
and permanently occupied by a Lacedoemonian garrison. Hostile and 
injurious as this conduct was, his professions of patriotism probably 
were so far sincere, that he was actuated by no love for Sparta, and 
no hate for Athens, though altogether careless of all national or in- 
dividual misfortune, so long as he promoted his own views of returning 
home in power and authority, and not as an arraigned criminal. 

It was the general belief of Greece, that the maritime ascendency 
of Athens was utterly destroyed by the ruin of the Sicilian armament. 
The Ionian cities, which had felt the harshness of her command, and 
for the most part contained a strong oligarchal party, eagerly seized 
the favourable opportunity of revolt. The Persian satraps, or go- 
vernors of provinces, on the coast of the ^gean, were also eager to 
crush a power which, in addition to old grudges, maintained against 
the barbarians the integrity and independence of many valuable Gre- 
cian cities, which otherwise would probably have passed into Persian 
hands. It so chanced that, B. c. 412, Tissaphernes, satrap of Lydia, 
and Pharnabazus, satrap of the Hellespontine provinces, both sent to 
invite the alliance of Sparta. It is not necessary to detail the in- 
trigues by which Alcibiades caused the former to be preferred ; at the 
same time it was determined to support Chios and Erythrse in a pro- 
posed revolt. The usual supineness of the Spartan government nearly 
prevented this important blow being struck, nor would the design 
have been accomplished but for the activity of Alcibiades, by whom 
Chios, Erythrse, Clazomense, Teos, and Miletus, were induced to re- 
volt from Athens, and a treaty, by no means honourable to Sparta, 
was concluded with Tissaphernes. 



136 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 



In the annual change of Spartan magistrates at the end of the year, 
those who had been most closely connected with Alcibiades went out 
of oflBce, and were succeeded by the party of Agis, one of the reigning 
kings, who had personal reasons for looking on the Athenian refugee 
with no friendly eye. The connection with Persia was utterly repug- 
nant to the principles of Lycurgus's institutions ; the terms of the 
late treaty with Persia were highly objectionable ; and in addition to 
those reasons for disliking the course of policy suggested by Alcibi- 
ades, there was ground to suppose that he who had been so ready to 
ruin his country, would not scruple to betray the interests of his 
adopted home, and there was something like a certainty that he would 
betray them if the direction of afi'airs were taken out of his hands. 
To prevent this, recourse was had to a measure not unfrequent in 
Spartan councils, and the Spartan general in Asia received instruc- 
tions to have Alcibiades assassinated. Aware of his danger, Alci- 
biades left the camp, and repaired to Tissaphernes. Probably it was 
his aim from the first to establish an independent interest wnth the 
satrap, so as to make himself the channel which should turn Persian 
gold at pleasure into the treasury of Sparta or Athens, and thus ob- 
tain sufficient consequence to prescribe to either party the terms on 
which his services might be purchased. It was with this view that he 
recommended to the satrap a line of policy which should give no de- 
cisive advantage to either of the contending parties. By the ruin of 
Athens his services would become useless to Sparta ; by the relieving 
Athens from the fear of Sparta his restoration to his home would be- 
come hopeless. 

The exertions of Athens, ever since the fiital expedition to Sicily, 
had been wonderful, and her success proportionate ; but they had 
nearly drained her treasury, and it seemed impossible to hold out 
much longer against Sparta, backed by the wealth of Persia. It was 
probably the knowledge of this which guided the policy of Alcibiades, 
and induced him to hold out hope of an alliance with Persia, on terms 
which a few years sooner would have been rejected with scorn. 
These were, his own restoration, coupled with the establishment of 
oligarchy. The negotiation was commenced with the citizens in the 
Athenian army, then quartered in great strength at Samos. A large 
proportion of the trierarchs, or captains of ships, who, under the 
Athenian system, were men of wealth, w'ere favourable to the change. 
"^Vhen they had secured a decided majority in the army, it was resolved 
to send delegates to Athens, to acquaint the people with the proposals 
of Alcibiades, and the opinion of the army that they should be 
accepted. The deputation succeeded in reconciling the people to the 



THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 239 



change with singular rapidity, and in return a body of ten commis- 
sioners was sent out to treat with Alcibiades and Tissaphernes. But 
whether the former thought the revolution thus brought about un- 
favourable to his private views, or that he found it impossible to make 
Tissaphernes fulfil the expectations of assistance, which he had held 
out as the price of his return, he so managed matters that the com- 
missioners broke off the conference in anger, convinced that, at all 
events, Alcibiades meant nothing friendly to them. Still the revolu- 
tion proceeded. By the new constitution, the supreme authority was 
vested in a body of five thousand select citizens, and a council of four 
hundred was appointed to supersede the old council of five hundred. 
The council was nominated, but not the select body. No one dared 
to complain, for the practice of secret murder was carried to a fright- 
ful extent, and those who did not favour the government were satisfied 
to remain quiet, when they saw the numbers who were daily slain 
without inquiry or notice on the part of the magistrate. But in the 
absence of the leading oligarchists, the temper of the army at Samos 
changed. Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, two officers of high character, 
but subordinate rank, were appointed to take the command : an oath 
of adherence to the democracy was exacted from all, and, as the 
general assembly at Athens had been dissolved, the citizens in the 
army assumed the supreme power, and considered the resolutions of 
their own assembly as the acts of the commonwealth. One of their 
first measures was to recall Alcibiades, and appoint him their general. 
In this capacity he did his country the signal service of preventing a 
civil war between the oligarchy at home and the army, who were on 
the point of sailing to Athens to restore the old constitution by force. 
Meanwhile a schism had arisen, which led to the desired event without 
confusion or bloodshed. The violent oligarchists were suspected, and 
with good reason, of a plot to deliver the city into the hands of the 
Peloponnesians ; a cry was raised to uphold the authority of the five 
thousand against the four hundred ; the supreme authority was vested 
in the former body, who were appointed to be taken from such citizens 
upon the muster-roll of the heavy-armed foot as were then in Athens ; 
and one of its first acts was to decree the restoration of Alcibiades, 
and all who had absented themselves from Athens on account of the 
mutilation of the Mercuries. This revolution and counter-revolution 
were comprised in the year 411, four years after the recall and con- 
demnation of Alcibiades. 

The promises of Persian assistance, which Alcibiades had made so 
confidently, were not fulfilled. Tissaphernes had learnt so much from 
his wily counsellor, that he was as unwilling to break entirely with 



140 



THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 



the Spartans as formerly with the Athenians. But the able conduct 
of Alcibiades, seconded by Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, soon bright- 
ened the prospects of the Athenians. At Cynossema, (b. c. 411,) the 
Peloponnesian fleet was defeated; at Abydos, in the same year, a fur- 
ther success was obtained ; at Cyzicus, (b. c, 410,) a still more brilliant 
victory was gained, in which every ship of the Peloponnesians was 
taken or destroyed. In the two following years, a train of equally 
important successes marked the ability with which the Athenian aifairs 
were conducted. Chalcedon, Byzantium, and the whole Hellespont 
and Propontis were regained to the alliance or subjection of Athens; 
and thus the control of the Euxine, and the power of levying duties 
on all ships passing the straits, a very lucrative branch of revenue, was 
recovered. Alcibiades had hitherto abstained from visiting Athens, 
though the decree against him had been reversed for four years. He 
now probably thought that his brilliant successes ensured a favourable 
reception, and he led home his victorious armament in 407. He was 
received with distinguished favour, elected commander-in-chief, with 
a new title, and apparently with greater powers than those belonging 
to the office of strategos, and soon found an opportunity of gratifying 
the people, by conducting the annual procession from Athens to 
Eleusis under safeguard of the army, which had never ventured to 
traverse the country since the establishment of a Laconian garrison 
in Deceleia. 

After staying four months in Athens, he returned to the scene of 
action. The Athenians seem to have thought that he could command 
success at wdll, and grew angry that no brilliant success immediately 
waited on his arms. The defeat at Notium, where his second in com- 
mand gave battle during his absence, contrary to his commands, 
completed their alienation. He was superseded, and the command 
vested in a board of ten. It is not said that any steps were taken 
against him, but he evidently thought it would be unsafe to return to 
Athens, and retired from the fleet to the Thracian Chersonese, where 
he had large possessions. Here the history of his public life ends, 
and of his future history few certain notices are preserved. He still 
resided in the Chersonese in 405, and endeavoured to prevent the 
defeat of ^gospotamoi, which he foresaw from the negligence and 
incompetence of the Athenian commander; but his interference was 
disregarded. Athens was taken in the following spring, and Alci- 
biades, thinking himself no longer safe in the Chersonese, retired into 
Bithynia, with the intention, it is said by Plutarch, of repairing, like 
Themistocles, to the Persian court, to request assistance in restoring 
the independence of Athens. During his abode in Asia, his house 



THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 



141 




■was surrounded and set on fire by a body of armed men. They dared 
neither enter the house, nor await the assault of Alcibiades, supported 
only by his servants, but overwhelmed him with missile weapons. He 
appears to have died in 40-1, being then at least forty-four years of age. 
The intellectual eminence and moral depravity of Alcibiades are 
alike placed beyond the reach of doubt. His conduct, however, sub- 
sequent to his recall, seems to have been unexceptionable ; and the 
ingratitude of his countrymen was justly punished by the issue of the 
war. The rashness and petulance of his youth were tempered by 
experience, and his measures appear to have been equally vigorous 
in execution, and prudent and mature in conception. Singularly 
gifted with the faculty of adapting himself to all men, it was observed 
that, when at Sparta, he equalled the Spartans in austerity of manners ; 
in Asia surpassed the pomp of the Persians themselves ; and he is said, 
by Plutarch, to have been materially indebted to his powers of pleas- 
ing in society, which w^ere such, that "no man was of so sullen a 
nature but he would make him merry, nor so churlish but he would 
make him gentle." Had he been suffered to retain the direction of 
the counsels of Athens, there can be no doubt but that the temporary 
fall of that city would have been long delayed, and a strong proba- 
bility that the event of the Peloponnesian war would have been alto- 
gether different. 




Xenophon. 



THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 




N the fifth century before the Christian era, an even!: 
happened \\-hich disclosed to Europe the internal weak- 
ness of the Persian empire, and which ultimately led 
to the wonderful successes of Alexander the Great in 
the East. It forms the subject of one of the works 
of the accomplished historian Xenophon, who served 
in this campaign. 
Cyrus, the younger son of Darius Nothus, the Persian king, had 
from his infancy shown far superior powers of thought and action to 
those of his elder brother Artaxerxes ; his mother, Parysatis, had 
vainly laboured to persuade Darius to change the order of succession 
in his favour, but the old king steadily refusing, she only succeeded 
in stimulating the ambition of one son, and awakening the jealousy 
of the other. Soon after the death of Darius, Artaxerxes, at the in- 
stigation of Tissaphernes, threw Cyrus into prison, and would have 
put him to death, but for the intercession of his mother. At her re- 
quest, Cyrus was not only pardoned, but restored to the government 
of Lesser Asia, which he had held in the lifetime of his father. As 
during his former administration, he had been of the most essential 
service to the Spartans, and was indeed the principal cause of their 
great success, he found it easy to renew his alliance with that people, 
while at the same time he conciliated the Asiatic Greeks by the jus- 

142 



THE KETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 143 



tice and mildness of his administration. But the memory of the insult 
he had suffered, and the danger he had escaped, still rankled in the 
bosom of Cyrus ; he resolved to dethrone his brother, and for this 
purpose obtained from the Lacedoemonians permission to enlist soldiers 
in Greece, while he silently assembled an army in Asia. The desired 
leave was granted, a body amounting to about thirteen thousand were 
collected, under the command of Clearchus, from the different states 
of Greece ; several young men of rank joined as volunteers, among 
whom was Xenophon, the disciple of Socrates, who has left us a most 
interesting narrative of the expedition. 

Though Artaxerxes had received frequent warnings of his danger, 
he seems to have neglected every preparation for resistance, since the 
army of Cyrus marched almost without opposition into the very heart 
of the Persian empire, (b. c. 400.) At length, when the invaders 
reached the plains of Cynaxa, within a day's march of Babylon, they 
suddenly learned that the army of Artaxerxes was in their neighbour- 
hood. Immediate preparations were made for battle, and a fierce 
engagement ensued. The Greeks totally defeated the wing of the 
Persians to which they were opposed, but their victory was rendered 
useless by the death of Cyrus, who, irritated to madness by the sight 
of his brother, had attacked the royal guard, accompanied only by his 
personal attendants, and had fallen in the encounter. 

The victorious Greeks, on returning to their camp, were surprised 
to find that it had been plundered, and that no intelligence had been 
received from Cyrus. The night was spent in great anxiety, but the 
following morning they became acquainted with the extent of their 
misfortune. They sent to Ariseus, the lieutenant of Cyrus, offering 
to place him on the throne of Persia, but the satrap judiciously re- 
fused, and advised them to join him in retreating to Lesser Asia. In 
the mean time, a herald arrived from Artaxerxes, commanding the 
Greeks to surrender their arms, which they indignantly refused ; this 
was followed by a second message of a different nature, proposing to 
treat about the safe conduct of the Greeks to their native land. This 
negotiation was protracted for twenty days by the artful Tissaphernes, 
during which time he successfully laboured to persuade Ariaeus to 
purchase a pardon from the king by deserting the Greeks. Soon 
after, Tissaphernes invited the Grecian commanders to a conference, 
and treacherously murdered them. 

The situation of the Greeks, when they learned the perfidious assas- 
sination of their leaders, was the most deplorable that can be con- 
ceived. They were more than twelve hundred miles from home, 
surrounded by lofty mountains, deep and rapid rivers, by powerful 



144 



THE RETREAT OP THE TEN THOUSAND. 



enemies and perfidious friends, without provisions, -without horses, 
and without leaders. Yet they overcame all these difficulties under 
the guidance of the new generals whom they elected ; they fought 
their way through the great extent of the Persian empire, and made 
their retreat, commonly called the retreat of the ten thousand, one 
of the most celebrated exploits recorded in military annals. 




Ancient Phrygian Warriors. 




MACEDON: GEOGRAPHY AND EARLY HISTORY- 
REIGN OF PHILIP. 

Il^, HE range of Mount Hoemus separates Thrace 
and Macedon from northern Europe, and the 
Cambunian mountains on the south divide the 
latter country from Thessaly. The space in- 
tervening between these mountain-chains was, 
during a long succession of ages, distinguished 
by different appellations, according as the bar- 
barous nations that tenanted these regions rose into temporary emi- 
nence. The most ancient name of Macedonia was ^mathia ; but the 
time and cause of the appellation beins^ changed are unknown. It is 




10 



145 



146 MACEDON. 



difficult to describe, the boundaries of a country whose limits were 
constantly varying ; but, in its most flourishing state, Macedon was 
bounded on the north by the river Strymon and the Scardian branch 
of Mount Ilsemus ; on the east by the -3j]gean Sea ; on the south by 
the Cambunian mountains ; and on the west by the Adriatic. It was 
said to contain one hundred and fifty different nations ; and this 
number will not appear exaggerated, when it is remembered that each 
of its cities and towns was regarded as an independent state. 

The western division of the country, on the coast of the Adriatic, 
was, for the most part, possessed by the uncivilized Taulantii. In 
their territory stood Epidamnus, founded by a Corcyrean colony, whose 
name the Romans changed to Dyracchium, [Durazzo,) on account of 
its ill-omened signification ; and Apollonia, a city colonized by the 
Corinthians. South of the Taulantii, but still on the Adriatic coast, 
was the territory of the Alymiotse, whose chief cities were Elyma and 
Bullis. East of these lay a little inland district called the kingdom 
of Orestes, because the son of Agamemnon is said to have settled 
there after the murder of his mother. 

The south-eastern part of the country, called ^mathia, or Mace- 
donia proper, contained iEg?ea, or Edessa, the cradle of the Macedo- 
nian monarchy, and Pella, the favourite capital of its most powerful 
kings. The districts of ^raathia that bordered the sea were called 
Pieria, and were consecrated to the muses ; they contained the im- 
portant cities Pydna, Phylace, and Dium. North-east was the region 
of Amphaxitis, bordering the Thermaic gulf; its chief cities were 
Thermn, subsequently called Thessalonica, [Salonielii,) and Stagira, 
the birthplace of Aristotle. 

The Chalcidian peninsula, between the Thermaic and Strymonian 
gulfs, has its coast deeply indented by noble bays and inlets of the 
^gean Sea. It contained many important trading cities and colonies, 
the chief of \shich were Pallene, in the headland of the same name; 
Poti(l;va, a Corinthian colony; Torone, on the Toronaic gulf; and 
Olynthus, famous for the many sieges it sustained. In the region of 
Edonia, near the river Strymon, was Amphipolis, a favourite colony 
of the Athenians, Scotussa, and Crenides, Avliose name was changed 
to Philippi by the father of Alexander the Great. 

The most remarkable mountains of Macedon were the Scardian 
and other branches from the chain of Hremus ; Pangreus, celebrated 
for its rich mines of gold and silver ; Athos, which juts into the 
^gean Sea, forming a remarkable and dangerous promontory ; and 
Olympus, which partly belonged to Thessaly. Most of these, but 
especially the Scardian chain and Mount Athos, were richly wooded, 



MACEDON. 147 



and the timber they produced was highly valued by shipbuilders. 
The principal rivers falling into the Adriatic were the Panyasus, the 
Apsus, the Laus, and the Celydnus ; on the ^gean side Avere the 
Haliacmon, the Erigon, the Axius, and the Strymon, which was the 
northern boundary of Macedon until Philip extended his dominions 
to the Nessus. 

The soil of Macedonia was very fruitful ; on the seacoast especially, 
it produced great abundance of corn, wine, and oil, and most of its 
mountains were rich in mineral treasures. Macedonia was celebrated 
for an excellent breed of horses, to which great attention was paid ; 
no fewer than thirty thousand brood-mares being kept in the royal 
stud at Pella. 

An Argive colony, conducted by Caranus, is said to have invaded 
^mathia by the command of an oracle, and to have been conducted 
by a flock of goats to the city of Edessa, which was easily stormed, 
(b. c, 813.) The kingdom thus founded was gradually enlarged at 
the expense of the neighbouring barbarous nations, and was fast rising 
into importance, when, in the reign of king Amyntas, it became 
tributary to the Persians, (b. c. 513,) immediately after the return 
of Darius from his Scythian campaign. After the overthrow of the 
Persians at Platgea, Macedon recovered its independence ; which, 
however, was never recognised by the Persian kings. Perdiccas II., 
(b. c. 554,) on coming to the throne, found his dominions exposed to 
the attacks of the lllyrians and Thracians, while his brother was 
encouraged to contest the crown by the Athenians. He was induced, 
by these circumstances, to take the Spartan side in the first Pelopon- 
nesian war, and much of the success of Brasidas was owing to his 
active co-operation. 

Civilization and the arts of social life were introduced into Mace- 
donia by Archelaus, the son and successor of Perdiccas, (b. c. 413.) 
Ilis plans for the reform of the government were greatly impeded by 
the jealous hostility of the nobles, who were a kind of petty princes, 
barely conceding to their kings the right of precedence. He was a 
generous patron of learning and learned men ; he invited Socrates to 
his court, and munificently protected Euripides when he was forced 
to depart from Athens. 

Archelaus was murdered by Craterus, one of his favourites, (b. c. 400 ;) 
and his death was followed by a series of civil wars and sanguinary 
revolutions, which possess no interest of importance. They were ter- 
minated by the accession of Philip, (b. c. 360,) who, on the death of his 
brother Perdiccas HI., escaped from Thebes, whither he had been sent 
as a hostage, and was chosen king in preference to his nephew, whose 



148 MACEDON. 



infancy disqualified liim from reigning in a crisis of difficulty and 
danger. 

Philip found his new kingdom assailed by four formidable armies, 
and distracted by the claims of two rival competitors for the throne, 
one of whom had the powerful support of the Athenians. Educated 
in the arts of war and state-policy by the great Epaminondas, Philip 
displayed valour and wisdom adequate to the crisis : he purchased, by 
large bribes, the forbearance rather than the friendship of the Illy- 
rians, Pieonians, and Thracians ; he then marched with his whole force 
against Argaius and his Athenian auxiliaries, whom he defeated in a 
general engagement. Argseus was slain, and his supporters remained 
prisoners of war. Philip, anxious to court the favour of the Athenians, 
dismissed his captives without ransom, and resigned his pretensions to 
Amphipolis. 

Having restored tranquillity to his kingdom, he began to prepare 
for its security by improving the tactics and military discipline of his 
subjects. Epaminondas, at Leuctra and Mantineia, had shown the 
superiority of a heavy column over the long lines in which the Greeks 
usually arranged their forces ; and, improving on this lesson, he in- 
stituted the celebrated Macedonian phalanx. He soon found the ad- 
vantage of this movement : having been forced to war by the Pajonians, 
he subdued their country, and made it a Macedonian province ; and 
then, without resting, he marched against the Illyrians, whom he over- 
threw so decisively, that they begged for peace on any conditions he 
pleased to impose. 

While Athens was involved in the fatal war against the colonies, 
Philip, though professing the warmest friendship for the republic, 
captured Amphipolis, Pydna, and Potidrea ; and stripped Cotys, king 
of Thrace, the most faithful ally the Athenians possessed, of a great 
portion of his dominions. Thence he turned his arms against the 
tyrants of Thessaly and Epirus ; and received from the Thessalians, 
in gratitude for his services, the cession of all the revenues arising 
from their fairs and markets, as well as all the conveniences of their 
harbours and shipping. When the campaign was concluded, (b. c. 357,) 
he married Olympias, daughter of the king of Epirus, a princess equally 
remarkable for her crimes and her misfortunes. 

While Greece was distracted by the second sacred war, Philip was 
steadily pursuing his policy of extending his northern frontiers, and 
securing the maritime cities of Thrace. He was vigorously opposed 
by Kersobleptes and an Athenian army ; in spite, however, of these 
enemies, he captured the important city of Methone ; but he deemed 
the conquest dearly purchased by the loss of an eye during the siege. 



MACEDON. 



149 



His attention was next directed to the sacred war, which he was invited 
to undertake by the Thebans. Having subdued the Phocians, he made 
an attempt to seize Thermopylae, (b. c. 352,) but was baffled by the en- 
ergetic promptitude of the Athenians. They were roused to this dis- 
play of valour by the eloquent harangues of the orator Demosthenes, 
• whose whole life was spent in opposing Philip's designs against Grecian 
liberty. He was soon after doomed to meet a second disappointment ; 
his troops being driven from the island of Euboea by the virtuous 
Phocion, the last and most incorruptible of the long list of generals 
and statesmen that adorned the Athenian republic. 




Lemosthenes. 



These disappointments only stimulated his activity. Having pur- 
chased, by large bribes, the services of several traitors in Olynthus, 
he marched against that opulent city, (b. c. 349,) while the venal ora- 
tors at Athens, whom he had taken into his pay, dissuaded the careless 
and sensual Athenians from hastening to the relief of their allies. The 
noble exhortations, solemn warnings, and bitter reproaches of Demos- 
thenes failed to inspire his countrymen with energy : they wasted the 
time of action in discussions, embassies, and fruitless expeditions ; and 
when they began to prepare for some more serious interference, they 
were astounded by the intelligence that Olynthus was no more. It 
had been betrayed to Philip, who levelled its walls and buildings to 
the ground, and dragged the inhabitants into slavery. This triumph 
was followed by the conquest of the whole Chalcidian peninsula, with 
its valuable commercial marts and seaports. His artifices and bribes 
disarmed the vengeance of the Athenians, and lulled them into a fatal 
security, while Philip finally put an end to the sacred war, by the 
utter destruction of the Phocians. They even permitted him to ex- 



150 



MACEDON. 



tend his conquests in Thebes, and to acquire a commanding influence 
in the Peloponnesus, by leading an armament thither, which completed 
the humiliation of the Spartans. 

For several years Philip was engaged in the conquest of the com- 
mercial cities in the Thracian Chersonese and on the shores of the 
Propontis, while the Athenians made some vigorous but desultorji 
efforts to check his progress. At length the third sacred war against 
the Locrians of Amphissa gave him an opportunity of again appear- 
ing as the champion of the national religion of Greece. He entered 
Phocis, and thence marched to Amphissa, which he totally destroyed, 
(b. c. 338.) Before the southern Greeks could recover from their as- 
tonishment, he threw off the mask which had hitherto concealed his 
plans, and announced to the states his design of becoming their 
master, by seizing and fortifying Elateia. The Thebans and Athe- 
nians united in defence of Grecian liberty, but unfortunately they 
intrusted their forces to feeble and treacherous commanders. They 
encountered the Macedonians, headed by Philip and his valiant son 
Alexander, in the plains of Cheroneia, and were irretrievably ruined. 
They were forced to accept of peace dictated by the conqueror, who 
treated the Thebans with dreadful severity, but showed great forbear- 
ance and kindness to the Athenians. In the following year a general 
convention of the Grecian states was held at Corinth, where it was 
resolved that all should unite in a war against the Persians, and that 
Philip should be appointed captain-general of the confederate forces. 
While preparations were making for this great enterprise, Philip Avas 
stabbed to the heart by Pausanias, a Macedonian nobleman, whose 
motives for the crime are unknown. 





ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 




LEXANDER III., commonlj called the Great, son 
of Philip II., king of Macedon, was born B. c. 356. 
His mother was Olympias, the daughter of Xeopto- 
lemus, king of Epirus, through whom Alexander 
claimed a descent from the great Phthiotic hero, 
Achilles. 
The history of Alexander forms an epoch in the history of the 
world. Whatever difficulties we may have in making an exact esti- 
mate of his personal character, we can hardly assign too much im- 
portance to the great events of his life, and their permanent influence 
on the condition of the human race. The overthrow of the great 
Asiatic monarchy, which had so often threatened the political exist- 
ence of Greece, the victorious progress of the Macedonian arms from 
Thebes to the banks of the Danube, and from the Hellespont, the 
boundary of rival continents, to the Nile, the Jaxartes, and the In- 
dus — these have formed in all ages the theme of historical declama- 
tion, and are still the subject of vulgar admiration. But the diffusion 
of the language and the arts of Greece, the extension of commerce 
by opening to Europeans the road to India, the great additions made 
to natural science and geography by the expedition of Alexander, — 
these are the real subjects for enlightened and critical research. 

If we knew nothing more of Alexander than that Aristotle was his 
master, the memory of the philosopher would preserve that of the 
pupil. But it is a rare coincidence to find the greatest of conquerors 
instructed by the first of philosophers — the master of all knowledge 
teaching the future master of the world. Some of the great projects 
of Alexander might pass for the mere caprice of a man possessed of 

151 



152 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



unlimited power, if we did not know that Ai-istotle had given him 
lessons in political science, and written for his use a treatise on the 
art of government. That the pupil amid all his violence and excesses 
possessed a vigorous and clear understanding, wuth enlarged views 
of the advantage of commerce and of the nature of civil government, 
is amply confirmed by some of the most prominent events of his 
life. Unfortunately, Aristotle was not his only master. The flattery 
of Lysimachus and the obsequiousness of his attendants conspired to 
cherish those ungovernable passions which seem to have descended to 
him from both his parents. 

The military education of Alexander commenced from his boyhood : 
he was trained to be expert in all manly exercises, and particularly in 
the management of a horse. His first essay in arms was made at the 
battle of Chferonea, (b. c. 338,) when his father crushed the united 
forces of Thebes and Athens with their allies, and established the 
Macedonian supremacy in Greece. 

Philip was murdered (b. c. 336) during the celebration of his daugh- 
ter's marriage, when he was just on the eve of setting out on his 
Asiatic expedition, at the head of the combined force of Greece. His 
sudden death inspired the states which had been humbled with some 
hope of throwing ofi" the yoke of the Macedonian kings. Alexander in 
his twentieth year succeeded to the monarchy and to the great designs 
of his father. Though threatened with danger on all sides, from the 
movements of the barbarians on the north, and the restless Greeks in 
the south, his courage and address saved him. The Thessalonians 
readily chose liim as the head of their confederacy ; and the iVmphic- 
tyons confirined him in the honours which had been granted to Philip. 
His next step was to man-ch an army into Boeotia, to cheek the begin- 
ning of insurrectionary movements, by showing himself at the gates 
of Thebes. His vigour secured for him greater honors than Philip 
had ever received, and the states of Greece, Lacedsemon excepted, 
transferred to him, at Corinth, with abject flattery and mean submis- 
sion, the ofiicc of commander-in-chief against Persia, which they had 
already conferred on his father. 

In giving a brief sketch of the chief events of Alexander's short 
life, we may observe that without a constant reference to maps, it is 
impossible to form any idea of the rapidity of his movements, the 
natural obstacles which he had to encounter, or the immense extent of 
country which he overran in a few years. All military history with- 
out geographical detail is only a heap of confusion, and that of Alex- 
ander still waits for more complete illustration from the researches of 
modern times. 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 153 



In order to leave no troublesome enemies behind him, he resolved 
to reduce the barbarians of the north to obedience. From his resi- 
dence in Macedonia he marched (in the spring of B. c, 335) in ten 
days to the passes of Mount Haemus, (the Balkan.) crossed them in 
spite of the opposition of the natives, and descended into the great 
plain of the Danube. Here he defeated the Triballi ; and after 
crossing the Danube at a point which it is now impossible to deter- 
mine, he struck terror into the Get?e, who lived on the northern bank, 
by the rapidity and decision of his movements. On his return, he 
led his troops against the Illyrians and Taulantii, whom it was neces- 
sary to reduce to submission before he could safely quit his king- 
dom. 

A false report of his death, during this expedition, gave the Greeks 
once more hopes of throwing oif the hated yoke of Macedon ; and the 
Thebans set the example, by murdering two oiFicers of the Macedonian 
garrison, which had occupied the Cadmeia or Acropolis of the city ever 
since the battle of Ch?eronea. But while they were indulging in the 
anticipation of recovering their independence, their ever-active enemy 
made his appearance before their city. It appears as if Alexander 
would have been satisfied with a reasonable submission, but party 
violence in Thebes prevented all concession, and the proposals of the 
Macedonian king were rejected with insult. After a short resistance, 
Alexander's troops entered the city, when one of those horrid scenes 
of carnage ensued which form a necessary part of a conqueror's pro- 
gress. It was then that the Phocians, with the Plat?eans and other 
Boeotians in the army of Alexander, inflamed by the remembrance of 
what they had once suffered from this unprincipled city, slew all be- 
fore them, " even those who made no resistance ; they murdered the 
suppliants in the temples; they spared neither woman nor child." The 
number killed is stated at 6000, which may possibly be exaggerated ; 
the survivors were sold for slaves, except the ministers of religion, and 
the few who were the friends of the conqueror or who had opposed the 
revolution ; the temples and the house of Pindar, it is said, were spared ; 
but all the rest of the city, except the Cadmeia, was levelled to the 
ground, and Thebes for the present was blotted out of Greece, (b. c. 
335.) Alexander did not march further south, though the Athenians 
had been active in organizing the late resistance. One such example 
was suiBcient for a warning. 

In the spring of b. c. 334, Alexander set out on his Asiatic expe- 
dition with a force of about 35,000 men, and a very small supply of 
money. The largest component part of his army was Macedonian, 
with about 7000 allied Greeks, some mercenary troops, and several 



154 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



bodies of Thracians, 1500 Agrianian light infantry, and some other 
bodies of troops. His cavah-y, on which his success in a great 
measure depended, was mainly composed of Macedonians and Thes- 
salians. 

Having arrived at Sestos in twenty days, and crossed the narrow 
channel of the Hellespont, the descendant of Achilles and his friend 
Hephoestion did honour to the mounds that were said to contain the 
remains of the mighty hero and his beloved friend Patroclus. 

At the period of Alexander's landing in Asia, the unwieldy and dis- 
jointed monarchy of the Persians presented an appearance in every 
respect analogous to the Turkish empire at present. The Persians 
themselves, the ruling caste, were comparatively few in number. One 
monarch with absolute power claimed the sovereignty of almost count- 
less nations, and of an immense extent of country, the parts of which 
were in many cases separated by natural boundaries which were diffi- 
cult to pass. The provinces that lay remote from the seat of govern- 
ment could only be maintained by the presence of an armed force 
under a military governor nominated by the king. The partition of 
the empire and the distribution of power were therefore essential to 
the very existence of the Persian monarchy ; but this system was also 
the remote cause of its weakness and dissolution. Each powerful 
governor was kept in submission by no other motive but fear of punish- 
ment ; and when he felt himself able to defy his master, the bond of 
union was for the time broken. Hence some provincial governments 
passed quietly from father to son, the monarch tacitly consenting to 
an arrangement which he could not prevent. Darius, the king of 
Persia, who was contemporary with Alexander, seems to have been 
ill qualified to retrieve the falling fortunes of the monarchy : he was 
deficient in courage and military skill, and had no hope of opposing 
the invader but by turning against him the arms of the Greeks them- 
selves. From the time of Cambyses, the son of the first Cyrus, to 
the age of Alexander, we find renegade Greeks constantly in the pay 
of the Persian monarch, ready to serve their new paymaster against 
those who were united to them by kindred and language. The civil 
commotions which so often disturbed the peace of Grecian communities 
were also continually driving refugees to seek from the king of Persia 
the rank and property which they had lost at home. At this time the 
hopes of Darius rested on Memnon, a Greek of Rhodes, whose mili- 
tary skill might have made him, with better opportunities, a formida- 
ble opponent to the Macedonian king. The first combat between the 
invaders and the Persians was on the banks of the Granicus, (now 
perhaps the Oostvola,) a river which falls into the Sea of Marmora. 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



155 




The Persians possessed an elevated position on the east bank of the 
river, which their generals determined to defend, contrary to the advice 
of Memnon, who being, as it appears, not in the command, could only 
recommend for the present the safer expedient of a retreat. But the 
dispositions of the Persians were totally unsuited to oppose the violent 
attack of Alexander's cavalry, which crossed the river and maintained 
itself on the opposite bank until the light infantry that followed had 
time to come up, when the compact front of the Macedonians bristling 
with their formidable spears broke the less disciplined lines of the Per- 
sian cavalry, and secured a complete victory. To the daring personal 
courage of Alexander, who himself killed two Persians of the highest 
rank, and to the long spears of the Macedonians, the victory may be 
mainly attributed. The Greek infantry in the Persian army was cut 
to pieces, with the exception of 2000, who were sent into Macedonia 
in chains, and condemned to slavery. Alexander showed, after the 
battle, that he knew how to win affection by flattering self-love, as 
well as to lead men to conquest. He visited his own disabled soldiers, 
listened to the talc of their exploits and their wounds, and gave to 
the parents and children of those who had fallen, privileges of distinc- 
tion and immunity from civil burdens. Twenty-five horsemen belong- 
ing to the Companion cavalry, — a kind of military order, perhaps 
instituted by Alexander, — had fallen in the first assault : Lysippus, 



156 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



the famous sculptor, Avas ordered to make their figures in bronze, 
which were placed in the town of Dium, in Macedonia, and afterward 
adorned one of the public buildings of Rome. 

This success was of the utmost importance to Alexander, by pre- 
paring the submission of most of the Greek towns on the iEgean, in 
which he adopted the policy of establishing democratic forms of govern- 
ment, with the double purpose of showing that he had come as the 
liberator of the Greek states, and perhaps, too, with a view of prevent- 
ing their combining against himself by the constant occupation which 
they wonld have in quarrelling with one another. 

After gaining the strong post of CehTsmTe, near the source of the 
MjBander, the Macedonian general marched to Gordia in Phrygia, 
(b. c. 333,) where he had another opportunity of turning to profit the 
belief of a superstitious age. The empire of Asia was promised to 
him who should untie the complicated knot which fastened to the pole 
of a chariot the yoke and collars of the horses. Alexander relieved 
himself from the difiiculty, either by cutting the cord, or some equally 
expeditious process. The promptitude of his resolution and the 
presence of a victorious army could not fail to secure him the credit 
of having fulfilled the intentions of the Deity. 

The army was now increased by fresh reinforcements from home, 
and the return of the new married soldiers who had been sent to 
winter in Macedonia. At Tarsus the career of Alexander was nearly 
terminated by a fever, either caused by fatigue, or by throwing him- 
self when heated into the cool stream of the Cydnus. A similar act 
of imprudence at Tersoos is said to have been fatal to the emperor 
Frederick Barbarossa. 

A little before this time Memnon died, and with him the best hopes 
of Darius. This skilful commander, at the time of his death, was in 
the iEgean with a powerful fleet, to which Alexander had nothing to 
oppose : he was master of Chios, the chief part of Lesbos, and ready 
to fall on Euboea and Macedon, with the prospect of being supported 
by the Lacedemonians. His sudden death relieved Alexander from 
an opponent whose operations in Greece might have compelled him 
to give up the dazzling prospect of Asiatic conquest. 

From Tarsus Alexander marched, partly by the route of the younger 
Cyrus, along the Gulf of Issus to the little town of Myriandrus in 
Syria. Darius had for some time occupied an extensive plain in Syria, 
well adapted for the evolutions of his large body of cavalry, and for 
the disposition of his immense army. Contrary to the advice of 
Amyntas, a Greek deserter, he abandoned this position for one in 
which defeat was almost certain. An offset from the range of Taurus 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



runs down to tlie Gulf of Issus, (the modern Gulf of Skanderoon,) and 
terminates in the high land of Cape Khjnzyr. The mountains press 
close on the shores of the Gulf of Issus, leaving in some places a plain 
barely large enough for the battle-ground of an army : in one 
particular spot the passage is so narrow as to be capable of an 
easy defence. By this unguarded pass Alexander had advanced into 
Syria, while by another pass farther north in the mountain range, 
Darius moved from Syria to the plain of Issus with the river Pinarus 
in his front. He was now in the rear of Alexander ; but he had 
engaged himself in a position where victory might be confidently ex- 
pected by the Macedonians. Alexander marched back through the 
Syrian pass, and found the Persian king prepared for battle in the 
plain of Issus. The left wing of the Macedonian army was protected 
by the sea, and the dispositions on the right were such as to prevent 
the superior force of the Persians from effectually outflanking the 
Greeks on that side. The Persian king, though possessing a far 
superior force, waited the attack on the opposite bank, as if conscious 
of his inferiority, and anticipating a defeat. Alexander himself, who 
was on the right wing, crossed the stream, attacked the Persians with 
impetuosity, and soon put their left wing to the rout. The thirty 
thousand Greek mercenaries in the Persian army offered a stout resist- 
ance to the main body of the Macedonians ; and the Persian cavalry 
on the right, who were opposed to the Thessalians, fought bravely as 
long as their king remained on the field of battle. 

The Persian king himself gave the signal for flight when he saw 
his left wing entirely routed ; and the cavalry, soon following the 
example of their leader, turned their backs with the rest of the army. 
The slaughter, though perhaps exaggerated, must have been pro- 
digious, from the nature of the ground ; and Ptolemy, the future king 
of Egypt, who was in the battle, relates that in one narrow pass the 
pursuers crossed the road on the upheaped bodies of the slain. Darius 
succeeded in escaping over the Euphrates by the usual ford at Thapsa- 
cus, but his mother, wife, and his infant son, who had attended him 
to the field of battle, fell into the hands of the conqueror, and expe- 
rienced from him the most humane and respectful treatment. This 
victory (about the close of B. c. 333) may be considered as having 
decided the fate of the Persian monarchy : it opened to Alexander a 
passage towards Egypt and Babylon, and checked the designs of Agis 
and Pharnabazus in Western Asia and the ^gean. One obstacle 
only lay in the way, which proved more formidable than the armies 
of Darius. A single day was sufiicient to disperse a numerous army, 
but the labours of many months were necessary for the capture of 



160 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 




Tyre. This great commercial city was situated on an island sepa- 
rated from the mainland by a channel about half a mile wide, which, 
on the side of the continent, was shallow and muddy, but had about 
eighteen feet water close to the island. The island itself was defended 
by lofty walls, and well supplied with all the ammunition of war. For 
many centuries this wealthy city had been the great entrepot between 
the eastern and the western Avorld ; and through it the inhabitants of 
Europe had long received those Asiatic products which we find men- 
tioned in the oldest Greek writers. Her commerce and her ships 
had penetrated to all knoAvn seas, and her adventurous traders, 
through many intermediate hands, received the products of countries 
which the Tyrians themselves never visited. Her merchants were 
princes, and her warehouses were stored with all that contributes to 
national wealth and domestic comfort. We find in the twenty-seventh 
chapter of Ezekiel a most glowing picture of the prosperity of this 
great emporium, expressed with all the sublimity and strength of the 
ancient Hebrew poetry. 

The cities of Pha-nicia submitted to Alexander on his approach, 
and the ancient Sidon yielded Avithout a blow ; but Tyre, proud of 
her naval superiority, refused to grant all that was demanded, and 
prepared for a vigorous resistance. Alexander, in order to assault 
the place, was compelled to unite the mainland and the city by a 
causeway, which was not effected without great labour and difficulty. 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



163 



It is said that Nebuchadnezzar had taken the city by the same means ; 
but if the story is true, his causeway must have been of such a nature 
as to be easily removed. It is more probable that the island was not 
occupied till after the old city, which was on the mainland, had been 
taken by Nebuchadnezzar. Alexander's work still remains, and the 
island of Tyre is now part of the mainland. After a. laborious block- 
ade of seven months, the place was taken by storm, and the impa- 




' } 




The Siege of Tyre. 



tience of the besieging army was gratified by the slaughter of 8000 
Tyrians ; 30,000 more were sold into slavery ; and, if we trust the 
authority of Diodorus and Curtius, the conqueror was guilty of the 
inhuman act of crucifying 2000 men on the seashore. The last bul- 
wark of the Persian monarchy was now gone, and the dominion of the 
sea, as well as of the land, was in the hands of the Macedonians. 
Under the Persian monarchy Tyre enjoyed favour and privileges, on 
condition of furnishing the main part of the navy in all the wars with 
the Greeks ; a condition to which the Tyrians probably were not 
averse, as it gave them additional means for crushing the Greeks, 
whom they hated as their rivals in the commerce of the Mediter- 
ranean. The siege of Gaza, one of the strong towns of Palestine, 
occupied Alexander for two months ; but the obstinate defence of the 



164 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



inhabitants did not preserve the citj from being taken, nor the 
women and children from being sold into slavery. 

After the sieges of Tyre and Gaza, according to the authority of 
Josephus, Alexander marched to the holy city of Jerusalem, intend- 
ing to punish the inhabitants for their refusal to supply him with 
troops and money. The high-priest Jaddus went forth to meet the 
conqueror, attended by the priests and people, and accompanied by 
all the imposing insignia of the Jewish religion. Alexander was so 
struck with this spectacle, that he pardoned the people, adored the 
name of the Most High, and sacrificed in the temple, according to the 
directions prescribed to him by Jaddus. The Book of the Prophet 
Daniel was shown to him, and the passage pointed out in which it 
was foretold that the king of Grecia should overcome the king of 
Persia. With this, as the historian says, he was well satisfied, inter- 
preting himself to be the person foretold by the prophet. The story 
appears only like another version of the visit to the Temple of Am- 
mon, in Libya ; and will not, in our opinion, bear the test of exami- 
nation. Arrian says nothing about it. 

Nothing now remained to check the march of Alexander into 
Egypt, which yielded without striking a blow. In seven days the 
army marched from Gaza, through the desert to Pelusium, the frontier 
town of Egypt on the east. The Persian governor found resistance 
hopeless, and the country passed at once under the dominion of the 
Greeks, an event to which circumstances had been long gradually 
tending. From the time of Amasis, (b. c. 560,) the Greeks had received 
permission to settle in Egypt ; and, at the time of Alexander's in- 
vasion, there can be no doubt that the country contained a very large 
proportion of that nation. Under Persian government Egypt had 
always been an unruly and troublesome province, and the contest for 
the possession of it, between the Greek and Persian, and the Persian 
and Egyptian, had more than once been doubtful. The Egyptians 
hated the Persians for their religious intolerance and the desecration 
of their temples, while the more accommodating Greek readily 
associated his own with the religious usages of the Egyptians, and 
was willing to assign to both a common origin. From Pelusium 
Alexander visited the sacred city of Heliopolis, renowned for its 
temples and obelisks, and Memphis, then the great capital of Egypt ; 
south of this point we have no reason for supposing that he ever went. 
He next sailed down the Canopic, or western branch of the Nile, and 
entered the lake of Marea, where he founded the city of Alexandria, 
which still preserves his name. From motives of policy, vanity, or 
curiosity, or perhaps under the influence of all three, Alexander 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 167 



determined to visit the far-famed temple of Ammon, an object of 
religious veneration to the Egyptians, and also probably, as it now is, 
the centre of a considerable trade. The site of this curious spot is 
now ascertained to be Siwah, where the ruins of a temple, and the 
hot springs, confirm other evidence as to its locality. Alexander 
marched along the coast by the same route that Mr. Brown followed 
in 1792. 

Alexander, having received some reinforcements from Greece, and 
established the government of Egypt on a wise and liberal footing, set 
out to attack the Persian king, who had again collected a considerable 
army. In the spring of B. c. 331, he marched to Tyre, where he made 
some stay ; from thence to the ford of Thapsacus on the Euphrates, 
and across Mesopotamia to the Tigris. Such a march makes but a 
small figure in, the brief narrative of Arrian, and is but an inconsider- 
able part of the military operations of Alexander : it amounts, how- 
ever, to above eight hundred miles. The king crossed the Tigris, and, 
advancing through Aturia, found Darius encamped on the banks of 
the Bumadus, near a small place called Gaugamela, or the Camel's 
House. The immense disproportion between the Persian and Grecian 
armies was no disadvantage to the less numerous, but better disci- 
plined force of Alexander, though the victory was not obtained with- 
out a struggle. As on former occasions, many divisions of the 
Persian ai-my behaved with courage, and the Asiatic cavalry made a 
strong resistance ; but the early flight of the timid king left the Ma- 
cedonians a certain victory. Darius fled to Ecbatana (Hamadan) in 
Media ; and Alexander, who no longer had any reason to fear such 
an opponent, marched unmolested to take possession of Babylon, and 
the empire of Asia. This battle is more commonly known by the 
name of the battle of Arbela, (now Erbil,) up to which city Alexander 
pursued Darius. Arbela is between forty and fifty miles east of 
Gaugamela. 

The battle of Arbela may be considered as an epoch in the life of 
Alexander. Though Darius was still alive, he could no longer be 
considered as king ; his power was crushed ; the fairest part of his 
empire had submitted ; and the progress of the conqueror was hence- 
forward attended with almost immediate submission. But the conduct 
and temper of Alexander began to undergo a change. Intoxicated 
with success, he gradually assumed the state and manners of an 
Asiatic sovereign ; and, unrestrained by habits of self-control, he gave 
way to the most guilty excesses, which, if we trust the evidence of 
history, it is equally futile to palliate or deny. 

The ancient city of Babylon, which had so long resisted the first 



168 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



Cyrus and the first Darius, yielded, without a blow, at the approach 
of Alexander. The Macedonian adopted a more prudent and generous 
policy than the Persian monarchs, whose fanaticism and intolerance 
to foreign religions are hardly exceeded by that of the followers of 
Mohammed. Xerxes had ruined the temples of Babylon, and even 
had dared to profane the shrine of the Great Bel, and to murder the 
high-priest. Alexander gave orders to restore the temple of the deity, 
and showed himself a worthy proselyte, by sacrificing to Bel, accord- 
ing to the rites prescribed by his ministers the Chaldeans. 

A march of twenty days brought the Macedonians from Babylon to 
the banks of the Choaspes, (the Kerah,) on the east side of which 
stood the city of Susa, (Sus,) then the chief residence of the Persian 
kings, and the depository of their treasures ; now only remarkable for 
its extensive ruins, which spread for several miles along the banks of 
the Kerah. 

From Susa the active monarch advanced to the Pasitigris, (the 
Karoon,) and thence by the route which Timour afterward followed, 
along the valley of Ram Hormuz, to the mountain pass, (Kala-i-Sifid, 
the white castle,) which led into Persia Proper, (Pars,) the original 
seat of the Persians. His object was to surprise Persepolis, in which 
he succeeded ; and, according to some accounts, he burnt the palace 
of the Persian kings in a fit of drunken madness, and at the instiga- 
tion of Thais, an Athenian prostitute, who accompanied the army. 
It is difficult to believe all the circumstances as they are related ; and 
it is almost certain that the real destruction of Persepolis belongs to 
the Mohammedan epoch. Under the name of Istakhar it is often 
mentioned by oriental writers; and the immense remains of Tchil- 
Minar, (the forty columns,) perhaps once the palace of the Persian 
kings, have been described and copied by various modern travellers. 
Persepolis was a kind of sacred city to the Persians ; the former 
capital of their early empire, and the burying-place of their monarchs 
after the seat of government was removed to Susa and Ecbatana. 

From Persepolis Alexander marched to Ecbatana, (b. C. 330,) but 
not by a direct route. On his approaching the city Darius fled past 
the ancient Rhagse, and through the passes of the Elburz mountains, 
(Caspiie pyloe,) to seek a refuge in his Bactrian provinces. In fact, 
he was now a prisoner in the hands of the Bactrian satrap Bessus, 
who accompanied him in his flight, and assumed the command. At 
Ecbatana the Thessalian cavalry and many of the allied troops having 
terminated their period of service, were honourably dismissed with full 
pay and presents. Some who preferred a life of adventure were 
enrolled as volunteers. The Thessalians sold their horses to the 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 171 



king, and with the rest of the Greeks received a safe convoy to the 
shores of the Mediterranean. 

The march of Alexander from Rhagse, (the modern Rej, whose 
extensive ruins lie near Tehran,) to his entrance into India, is the 
most obscure part of his history. The geography of those regions is 
still very imperfectly known to us, and the brief narrative of Arrian, 
our sole trustworthy authority, only enables us to form a general 
idea of the movements of the army. Alexander penetrated into 
regions where no European army has yet followed him, and few tra- 
vellers have ventured to explore. The surprising rapidity of his move- 
ments and his capacity to endure toil are not surpassed by what is 
recorded of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, though we may readily 
admit that Arrian in this part of his work may have exaggerated, and 
fallen into error from unavoidable ignorance of the country. It is 
the same with distance as with time ; both of them are unfavourable 
to clear perception. As the history of a remote age is comprised in 
a few words, so the immense spaces of Asiatic geography dwindle into 
insignificance, and leave no impression on the reader. But nothing 
is wanting, except a clear conception of the distances traversed by 
Alexander, and the obstacles encountered, to convince us that of all 
the conquerors who ever troubled the peace of mankind, he was the 
most unwearied and daring. 

From Rhagae the Macedonian commander passed through one of 
the defiles in the Elburz mountains, commonly known by the name of 
the Caspian Pass, and in one night accomplished, while pursuing 
Darius, a distance of four hundred stadia through the arid wastes of 
Parthia, with foot-soldiers mounted on horses. Just as Alexander 
was coming up with the fugitives, Bessus took to more hasty flight, 
while two of his Persian attendants assassinated their unfortunate 
monarch, and made their escape with six hundred horsemen. Alex- 
ander sent the body to Persepolis, to be interred in the tombs of the 
Persian kings. 

The army now advanced into the ancient Hyrcania, comprising a 
part of the modern Mazanderan, a country hemmed in on one side by 
lofty wooded mountains, and on the other stretching down in a slop- 
ing plain to the great inland waters of the Caspian. The king's 
object was to gain over the remnant of the Greeks who had served in 
the army of Darius, for his progress eastward might be dangerous, 
and the occupation of the conquered provinces insecure, if he left in 
his rear a body of armed Greeks. After some negotiations, they 
came and surrendered at his camp, and Alexander had the good 
policy to pardon all, and to take a great many of them into his pay 



172 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



on the same terms as they had served the Persian king. Some Lace- 
daemonian ambassadors to king Darius, "who surrendered at the same 
time, were put in chains. In Zadracarta, the capital of Parthia, (a 
city whose site is totally unknown,) Alexander stayed fifteen days : 
his next progress was towards the frontier of Areia, along the north- 
ern verge of the great salt desert, and to Susia, (Toos ?) a city of 
Areia. According to a policy often successfully imitated, he left the 
government of Areia in the hands of the Persian satrap Satibarzanes, 
and prepared to lead his soldiers into a still more remote land. The 
traitor Bessus had fled into Bactria, (Bokhara,) one of the remotest 
possessions of the Persian monarchy, where he had rallied round him 
a few Persians and a considerable body of the natives of the province. 
He had assumed the royal name of Artaxerxes, and placed the tiara 
erect on his head, the symbol of Persian sovereignty. A new claimant 
thus arose to the empire of Asia. Alexander set out towards Bactria, 
but was speedily recalled by the news of Satibarzanes having revolted 
almost as soon as his master had turned his back. With a body of 
cavalry and mounted spearmen, and his ever-faithful Agrianians, the 
unwearied king returned before he was expected : in two days he 
marched six hundred stadia, and entered Artacoana, (Herat ?) the 
capital of the province, to which he gave a new ruler. His course, 
which seems to have been changed by this unexpected revolt, was 
now bent to the country of the Drangee, or Sarangos, and to their 
capital. The limit of this march, in this direction, it is impossible 
to determine ; but we must look for the country of the Drangte 
on the banks of the great Helmund, which flows into the lake of 
Zerrah. 

Here one of those events in Alexander's life must be briefly noticed, 
which cast the darkest shade on his character. Philotas, the son of 
Alexander's faithful general Parmenion, was accused of conspiring 
against the king, and of having long harboured treacherous designs. 
The charge may be true ; at least, Philotas was tried by his Macedo- 
nian peers, who pronounced him guilty, and carried the sentence into 
execution by transfixing him with their spears. The father was 
absent in Media at the head of an army. A letter from Alexander, 
conveyed by one of the companions to three other commanders in 
Media, contained the sentence of Parmenion. It was thus that a Per- 
sian king used to issue his decrees of death against a governor whom 
he had reason to fear ; and the same sanguinary policy, the offspring 
of fear, was the only remedy that a Turkish sultan would have applied 
in a similar case. No proof of Parmenion's guilt is brought forward, 
and the absence of all real charge against hiyn tends rather to show 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



1T3 




that tlie tyrant had basely murdered the son, and feared the just 
resentment of the father. 

The army now advanced, probably along tlie valley of the Ilelmund, 
to the Ariaspi, a people to whom the first Cyrus had given the name 
of Orosangse, or benefactors, (Euergetre,) for their aid in his Scj^thian 
expedition. Their civilized manners secured to them the favour of 
the second great conqueror of Asia. The Arachoti, sometimes called 
the White Indians, a people who live west of the Indus, and south of 
the great mountains, were subdued by Alexander : these operations, 
as well as the complete conquest of the Areii, were accomplished in 
the winter time, « in the midst of much snow, want of provisions, and 
hard suffering on the part of the soldiers." Nothing but the general's 
own capacity of endurance could have maintained the discipline of 
his army. Were the history of this campaign more minutely known, 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 




we might, perhaps, find a parallel to the unconquered endurance of 
the Macedonian king, in Charles XII., amid the marshes of the 
Ukraine, and a contrast in the hasty retreat and abandonment of his 
army, by the greatest conqueror of modern times. Alexander, in his 
progress to the mountains, built a city, ^yhich he called by his own 
name, Alexandria, supposed by some to be the modern Candahar. 
This, however, we may dispute. His course now lay over the Caucasus, 
as his historian terms the western part of the Hindoo Coosh, (Cau- 
casus — Ko-Koosh,) the mountain range that here separates the waters 
that flow southward, or into the ocean, from those that contribute to 
the lakes of central Asia. The greater part of the mountains were 
lofty and bare of wood, but the residence of a great number of people 
who here found food for their cattle. Bessus laid waste the country 
on the north side of the mountains, in order to impede the progress 
of his pursuer; "but," to use the simple and energetic words of the 
Greek historian, " Alexander moved forward not a bit the less : with 
difficulty, indeed, through deep snow, and without provisions ; but 
still he moved on." 

On the nearer approach of Alexander, (b, c. 329,) the Persian satrap 
crossed the Oxus, burnt his boats, and retreated to Nautaca, a town 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 175 



of Sogdiana, the modern Mawarennahr. Alexander, advancing, took 
in succession Aornos and Bactra : the latter is conjectured to be near 
the modern site of Balk, which lies on the line of road that the con- 
queror probably followed. The Oxus is described by Arrian as the 
largest river crossed by Alexander except the rivers of India, and as 
flowing into the Caspian Sea ; its breadth was about six stadia, which 
proves that Alexander crossed it about the melting of the snow on the 
mountains, in May or June ; the current was deep and rapid, and its 
banks offered no materials for constructing boats or rafts. In five 
days, however, Alexander passed all his army over by means of floats 
made of the tent skins of the soldiers stuffed with dried reeds and 
grass. Before crossing this mighty stream and entering on a new 
world, he sent home his disabled Macedonians, and such of the Thes- 
salian volunteers as were no longer fit for service. The traitor Bessus 
fell into the hands of Alexander soon after he had crossed the river : 
after being kept a prisoner for some time, his nose and ears were cut 
off by order of Alexander, and he was sent to Ecbatana to be put to 
death. Arrian, like an honest chronicler, condemns this barbarous 
punishment. The conqueror, intoxicated with success, debased him- 
self by ordering those cruel mutilations, of which ancient and modern 
Persian history present such frightful examples. Alexander had now 
assumed the insignia and the state of an Asiatic despot, and it would 
be difiicult to distinguish his future conduct from that of any other 
conqueror who has been the scourge of Asia. 

From the Oxus the army marched to Maracanda, (Samarcand,) the 
royal city of Sogdiana, and, at a later period, the seat of the wise and 
vigorous government of Tamerlane. The impetuous Macedonian still 
advanced eastward till he reached the banks of the Jaxartes, (the Sir,) 
which he proposed to make his frontier against the Scythians, or the 
nomadic tribes, occupying the country now possessed by the Kirghiz. 
After taking several cities to which the inhabitants had fled for refuge, 
he at last assaulted Cyropolis on the Jaxartes, a town which claimed 
for its founder the great Cyrus. This place is conjectured to be 
Khoojund, but it must be remarked that the measurement of distances 
and the fixing of positions in this part of Asia are yet entirely con- 
jectural. When the actual geography of these regions has received 
that illustration which we are daily expecting, we may then venture 
to illustrate the descriptions of antiquity. After taking Cyropolis, 
Alexander crossed the river, defeated the cavalry of the Scythians, 
and pursued them under the burning heat of a Bucharian summer. 
The army was exhausted by thirst, and the commander himself was 
compelled to recross the river in consequence of illness, caused by 



176 



ALEXANDER THE GllEAT. 




drinking the unwholesome -water, the only kind that is found in these 
arid steppes. A city founded on the banks of the Jaxartes, -which 
bore the name of Alexandria, -was designed to commemorate the limit 
of his conquests, and to serve as a frontier against the nomadic tribes. 
It -would be unprofitable to detail minutely the operations of the army 
in a country of -which most readers know as little as of the interior of 
New Holland. Alexander recrossed the Oxus, and spent the next 
winter (of 329 and 328 B. c.) at Bactra or Zariaspa. Here Arrian 
relates the story of Cleitus's death. It was during a festival in honour 
of Castor and Pollux, and the drunken revellings which followed, that 
Alexander murdered his friend Clcitus. Arrian remarks that Alex- 
ander, among other Asiatic customs, had adopted the Persian fashion 
of hard drinking, while the miserable flatterers by whom he was 
surrounded encouraged his vanity by exalting him above the demi- 
gods and heroes of Greece. Cleitus, who w^as drunk himself, had the 
boldness and imprudence to deny Alexander's claim to such extrava- 
gant honours, and the furious king, whom his attendants were unable 
to restrain, pierced his friend through with a javelin on the spot. 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 177 



Unavailing honours to the dead, and bitter remorse on the part of the 
murderer, were the natural termination of this tragical story. 

In the spring of 328 Alexander recrosscd the Oxus at a place marked 
by a fountain of water and a fountain of oil, (naphtha ?) which, if dis- 
covered, might throw some light on the course of the array. He paid 
a second visit to Saraarcand in order to tranquillize the country, and 
spent the severe season of the next winter in quarters at Nautaca ; 
the cold of this region rendering winter operations impracticable. In 
the following spring, (b. c. 327,) he assaulted a strong natural fortress 
in which Oxyartes the Bactrian had deposited his wife and daughters. 
The place was almost inaccessible, and well furnished with provisions; 
and in addition to this, a recent fall of snow had rendered tlie scaling 
of the rocks more difficult. By means of the iron pins used for secur- 
ing their tents, and strong ropes of linen, some adventurous soldiers 
ascended the steepest face of the fortress by night, and by the sud- 
denness of the surprise frightened the garrison into a surrender, Alex- 
ander thus not only got possession of the strongest post in Sogdiana, 
but he found there a wife in Roxana, the daughter of Oxyartes, whom 
his followers pronounced to be the handsomest woman they had seen 
in Asia, after the wife of Darius. We have but few and doubtful 
traces of Alexander being much devoted to the fair sex. His conduct 
to the wife of Darius may have proceeded from indifierence, though it 
is more charitable, and, perhaps, more true, to assign it to a generous 
feeling for a female whose husband's feebleness and misfortunes were 
more likely to excite pity than the wish to insult his fallen fortunes. 
Roxana was the daughter of a Bactrian prince, but to which of the tribes 
now found in Bucharia this wife of a Greek king belonged, it is impos- 
sible to say. The Tadjiks, who are considered the aborigines of Bu- 
charia, are a han<lsomc race, with European features, fine eyes, dark 
hair, beautiful teeth, and a good complexion : among their women 
there are some whom the conqueror of Asia might gladly make his 
wife, and his soldiers might approve his choice. After capturing 
another almost impregnable fort, Alexander moved southward about 
the end of spring, crossed the Caucasus, (Hindoo Coosh,) and in ten 
days arrived at Alexandria. It is impossible that ten days' march 
could have brought him from Balk to Candahar ; nor, if we reckon 
the ten days from the crossing of the mountains, can we even then 
admit that he marched to this city; it is most probable, then, that the 
time is incorrectly given, for there are stronger reasons for supposing 
that Candahar was the Alexandria than any other known place. The 
memory of Alexander is still preserved among the ignorant inhabit- 
ants of Bucharia, where a molla reads in the public place, to a nume- 

12 



178 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



rous audience assembled around him, the exploits and adventures of 
Iskander the Great. 

The winter residence in Bactra had been marked by new executions. 
A conspiracy was formed among the royal pages to murder the king, 
but, being discovered in time, Hermolaus and his young associates 
suffered the punishment of death by stoning, after having first been 
put to the torture. Callisthenes, a pupil of Aristotle, was implicated 
in the charge ; he was first tortured and then hanged. There seems 
no doubt about the existence of a conspiracy, and as little doubt that 
it was provoked by the intemperate conduct of Alexander. 

The progress of the army from Alexandria to the passage of the 
Indus is difficult to trace, though we can have no doubt that it fol- 
lowed, in part at least, the line of an existing commercial road, and 
would be pretty near the same route that Avould be followed now. In 
his march Alexander crossed the Choes or Choaspes, (the river of 
Caubul ?) and the Gyrreus, both of them then considerable streams ; 
he took the important town of Messaga, (Massagour,) and once more 
assailed one of those mountain fortresses, by name Aornos, which 
seems, from the peculiar difficulties which it offered, to have had ad- 
ditional charms for the adventurous spirit of Alexander. The place 
was captured in spite of a vigorous resistance ; and the army ad- 
vanced, by a road which they were obliged to construct for themselves, 
to the bridge of boats over the Indus which Ptolemy and HephEcstion 
had been sent forward to make. 

The region which the Macedonian conqueror now entered is watered 
by numerous large streams, whence it receives the Persian name of 
Penj-ap,, or the five rivers. The waters of the Penj-ab unite in one 
stream, and fall into the Indus on the left bank in 28° 55' N. lat. 
Taxila was the first Indian town he came to, and here the army en- 
joyed a little repose after its toils. Taxilas, the king, had saved him- 
self by previous submission ; and it seems not vmlikely that the dissen- 
sions among the Indian rulers of this country materially facilitated 
the operations of the Macedonian army. Alexander's progress was 
towards the Ilydaspes, (now the Behut, or Bedusta, also called by the 
natives the Jylum,) a large river swollen by the solstitial rains. His 
boats that had been constructed on the Indus had been taken in pieces, 
and brought across the country to the bank of the river ; but a more 
formidable enemy than the swollen Ilydaspes presented itself on the 
opposite bank. Porus, an Indian king, one of the great rulers of the 
Penj-ab, Avas stationed there with a formidable army, and a train of 
elephants that rendered all attempts at landing too dangerous to be 
hazarded. By a manoeuvre, Alexander, with part of his troops, and 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



179 




Alexander and Porus. 

his formidable companion cavalry crossed the river in another place 
before he was discovered. The troops of Torus were upon this drawn 
up in order of battle in the plain, with a line of elephants in front ; 
the rest of the dispositions of the Indian prince were such as showed 
him a master of the art of war as practised at that day in India. Un- 
like the timid monarch of Persia, Porus made a gallant defence ; but 
the Macedonian cavalry, and the compact mass of the infantry brist- 
ling with their spears, directed by the courage and skill of Alexander, 
were a force that no Indian army could resist. The whole loss of the 
enemy was, according to Arrian, about 23,000, while the number that 
fell on the side of the conqueror is stated so disproportionately small, 
as to lead us to doubt the accuracy of Arrian's authorities. Two sons 
of Porus fell in the battle ; and the gallant father at last yielded to 
Alexander, who treated him with the respect due to his rank and 
courage, and restored to him his kingdom with extended limits. In 
this battle a number of elephants fell into the hands of the Greeks ; 
and from this time we may date the use of that animal in European 
warfare. 



180 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 




Alexander and Bucephalus. 



We are told that Alexander founded two cities, or probably mili- 
tary posts, one on each bank of the Ilydaspes. One city was called 
Nicrea, to commemorate his victory ; the other Bucephala, in honour 
of Alexander's horse Bucephalus, which, after carrying his rider safe 
through so many battles, died in the last encounter, worn out by old 
age and fatigue. 

From the Ilydaspes the army advanced to the great Acesines or 
Chin-ab, which Ptolemy describes as fifteen stadia, or considerably 
above a mile, in breadth. This estimate, which may be true of some 
parts in the rainy season, when Alexander crossed it, far exceeds the 
ordinary limits of the river. It was crossed in boats, and on skins ; 
the latter mode, which is still common on the Chin-ab, Avas found the 
safer conveyance. The country betAveen the Chin-ab and the Ilydra- 
otes, (Ravee, or Iraoty,) to which Alexander was now advancing, is 
said to be a sheet of hard clay without a blade of grass, except on the 
banks of the rivers. Over this tract he marched and crossed the 
Ilydraotes to attack a ncAv enemy. A second Porus, who was king 
of the country between the Acesines and Ilydraotes, had fled as the 
enemy approached, and hence received the name of CoAvard. The 
recurrence of the name Porus, added to other reasons, proves that 
this was not a proper name of an individual, but of a family or tribe. 
The dominions of the runaway Porus were given to the true man. 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 181 



But all the Indians east of the Hydraotes were not cowards : the 
Cathsei, a warlike tribe, were determined to oppose the invader. 
Three days' march brought the Greeks to Sangala, where the Cathsei 
were stationed on an eminence with a triple line of wagons around it. 
Such mounds or eminences, surrounded by a brick wall higher on the 
outside than the inside, are found in the Penj-ab. The city was cap- 
tured with the usual slaughter, and the power of the brave Cathsei was 
for the time broken. Report magnified the wealth of the countries 
east of the Hyphasis, and the adventurous conqueror probably thought 
to make the Ganges the boundary of this progress. But his Greek 
troops, exhausted with fatigue, disappointed in finding a country poor, 
and full of vigorous enemies, and seeing themselves now only a hand- 
ful of strangers in a foreign laud, could not be induced either by 
threats or persuasions to cross this river. The Hyphasis was, there- 
fore, the boundary of Alexander's conquests and of that victorious 
progress, to Avhich no other history oifers a parallel. The Macedo- 
nians, a race hitherto looked on with contempt by many of the south- 
ern Greeks, furnished the officers for this bold undertaking ; the 
republics, whose names and exploits form the subject of all previous 
Grecian history, had no representative in the glories of the Indian 
conquest. It appears, further, when we consider the small number 
of Macedonians, Thessalians, and soldiers from southern Greece who 
formed the original army, or were afterward added to it, that Alex- 
ander's army must have been constantly recruited from the nations 
among whom he came, and must have presented at this period a 
strange and motley aspect of Asiatic and European troops officered 
by Macedonians. 

Our limits compel us to pass briefly over the remaining events of 
Alexander's life. The army retraced its steps to the Hydaspes, whore 
a fleet was constructed of the timber which this river still abundantly 
supplies from the upper parts of its course. On descending the river 
to its confluence with the Acesines, the fleet experienced, at the junc- 
tion of these streams, the dangerous rapids which are said only to exist 
in July and August. The long ships of war suffered severely, but the 
"round boats," as Arrian calls them, which probably resembled the 
native boats still used on the river, passed the dangerous spot in 
safety. A late traveller (Burnes) finds but a faint resemblance 
between the description of Arrian and the realities at the junction of 
these two great rivers, (vi. 4.) 

The Malli, a powerful Indian tribe, who seem to have chiefly occu- 
pied the lower course of the Ilydraotes, (Ravee,) were next attacked. 
In this campaign, Alexander, like some of the modern heroes of the 



182 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



Penj-ab, swam across the Ravee, at the head of his cavalry, to attack 
the enemy, who were drawn up on the opposite bank. 

The troops moved downwards (b. c. 325) to the confluence of the 
Indus and the Chin-ab at Mittun, where Alexander gave orders to 
found a city at the confluence of the two mighty streams, and to build 
dock-yards. Here he left Philip as satrap, with all the Thracians 
that belonged to the army, and a sufficient number of soldiers of the 
line to insure the military occupation of the country. With his 
fleet increased, Alexander sailed down the Indus, placing Craterus and 
the elephants on the east bank, with orders to advance. He visited, 
in his voyage downwards, the royal city of the Sogdi, doubtless a 
corrupted name, and established there a dock-yard. JNIusicanus, an 
Indian prince, who lived lower down the stream, surrendered, and his 
city received a foreign garrison. Oxycanus, another prince, resisted, 
but in vain : his two chief cities were taken, and himself made a pri- 
soner. The next acquisition was Sindomana, the capital of Sambus, 
which is probably the modern Sehwan, where there is a large mound 
sixty feet in height, surrounded by a wall of burnt brick, and which 
now encloses only a heap of ruins. Musicanus, in the mean time, 
revolted, — induced by the Brachmans, that is, the ruling caste. His 
second career, was, however, short : he was caught and hanged, to- 
gether with the leaders of the movement. 

At Pattala, (Tatta ?) the apex of the great delta of the Indus, and 
about sixty-five miles from the sea, Alexander established a naval 
station, and laid the foundation of a city, which he no doubt antici- 
pated would prove the centre of an extended commerce ; and such it 
might be in the hands of a politic and powerful governor. The enter- 
prising monarch himself explored the two great arms that embrace the 
delta of the Indus. In the western, called the Buggaur, he experi- 
enced the dangers of this rapid and destructive stream, swollen to in- 
creased fury by a strong wind from the sea ; while the rapid ebb and 
flow of the tides, which at full moon rise about nine feet, left his 
boats suddenly on dry land, and as suddenly returned to surprise them. 
At last he reached the mouth of the stream, and beheld the great Indian 
Ocean : he floated onwards till he was fairly in the open sea, with the 
view of ascertaining, as he said, if he could spy any land. His his- 
torian conjectures that he wished to be able to say that he had 
navigated the Indian Ocean. He next explored the eastern branch, 
which he found more practicable, and opening into a wide estuary. It 
may be doubted whether he sailed down the Snta, or present eastern 
arm of the delta. It is possible that he navigated the Koree, which 
has the widest embouchure of all, thouirh now no lonijer an outlet of 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 183 



the Indus. Alexander appears to have had views somewhat beyond 
those of an ordinary commander : he evidently possessed a spirit of 
geographical discovery. " With a few horsemen," says Arrian, "he 
followed the outline of the delta along the margin of the ocean, to 
see what kind of a country it was, and he ordered wells to be dug 
for the benefit of those who might navigate this coast." He also 
established a naval station on the wide estuary, and left a garrison 
to keep the country in order. 

Nearchus, the commander of Alexander's fleet, received orders to set 
out on his voyage along the coast towards the Persian Gulf, as soon as the 
change of the monsoons would allow him. Alexander himself set out 
from Pattala with his army somewhat earlier, about September, B. c. 
325. The route from the delta of the Indus to Bunder Abbas (Gom- 
broon) on the shore of the Persian Gulf is practicable for elephants, 
and also for an army when attended by a fleet with supplies. This 
line differs very little from that which Alexander would follow in his 
sixty days' march from the western limits of the Orita to Pura, (Fureg ?) 
Scarcity of water drove the army on one occasion to seek it by dig- 
ging on the sandy beach of the ocean, the coast of which they fol- 
lowed for seven days. But the sufferings of the soldiers in this arid 
desert were almost beyond description, owing, perhaps, as much to 
the want of supplies for so large a number of men as to the barren- 
ness of the country itself. From Pura the army advanced without any 
difficulty to the capital of Karmania, (the modern Kirman.) Here Alex- 
ander was joined by Craterus with the elephants, and the detachment 
already spoken of as sent through Candahar. The route of this com- 
mander was doubtless along the valley of the Helmund, from which 
the road to Kirman offers no serious difficulties. Nearchus also joined 
the king here, having conducted the fleet in safety to Harmozia, a 
place on the mainland opposite the barren island of Hormuz, a name 
once celebrated in modern oriental warfare and commerce. 

From Kirman, Hephasstion led the mass of the army, with the 
beasts of burden and the elephants, down to the coast, as the road 
along the Persian Gulf was more practicable in the winter season that 
was approaching. The king himself advanced with his lightest troops 
and the companion cavalry to Pasargadi^, (probably Murghaub,) the 
burial-place of the great Cyrus. He found the tom.b rifled by some 
robbers, who cared not for the honour of the great national hero who 
for more than two hundred years had slept undisturbed. The golden 
coffin that contained the embalmed body of the monarch was the 
object of the plunderers, but, after taking off the lid and throwing the 
corpse from its resting-place, they were unable to carry off the booty 



184 ALEXANDEK THE GREAT. 



on account of its weiglit. Alexander ordered the mutilated body to 
be restored to the tomb, and Aristobulus tells us he himself received 
the king's commands to repair the damage that had been done, and 
secure the remains of the great Persian warrior from any similar 
insult. 

From Pasargadre, Alexander came to Persepolis, the city which he 
is said to have burnt at his former visit. If we may trust Arrian, the 
sio'ht of the mischief he had done gave him no satisfaction. Here he 
named Peucestas, a Macedonian, satrap or governor of the province 
of Persis, in the place of the Persian governor, who was hanged for 
his mal-administration. Peucestas forthwith followed a course of 
policy which Alexander well knew how to appreciate. He adopted 
the dress and usages of the country, and made himself a perfect mas- 
ter of the Persian language : the Persians, as we are informed by the 
historian, were naturally pleased with him. His example, to a certain 
extent, may serve as a pattern to modern nations who occupy a 
foreign land. 

At Susa, on the banks of the Ulai, or Choaspes, (b. c. 324,) the 
army at last rested from their labours, and the interval of leisure 
was employed in enjoying the festivities of marriage. Alexander 
himself took another wife, Barsine, the eldest daughter of Darius : 
if we may trust Aristobulus, he married also, at the same time, Pary- 
satis, the daughter of Ochus, thus sharing the honours of his Bactrian 
wife Roxana with two of the Persian stock. Eighty of his chief 
officers, at the same time, received each an Asiatic wife from their 
royal master, who seems to have assigned the women to their respec- 
tive husbands just as he would have parcelled out so many govern- 
ments. Hephffistion married a daughter of Darius, it being Alexan- 
der's wish that his and his friend's children should be related by 
blood. The wives of Craterus, Perdiccas, Ptolem}', the future king 
of Egypt, Eumenes, Nearchus, and Seleucus are specially mentioned 
by the historian. "The marriages," he adds, "were celebrated after 
the Persian fashion : seats were placed for the bridegrooms, and after 
the wine, the brides were introduced, and each sat doAvn by her hus- 
band. The men took the females by the hand and kissed them, the 
king setting the example." Alexander gave a dowry with each. 
Every other Macedonian who chose to take an Asiatic wife was regis- 
tered, and received a present on his marriage ; the number who fol- 
lowed the king's example was above ten thousand. The feastings and 
revelry that attended the marriage celebration were diversified by 
every kind of amusement that music, theatrical representations, and 
all the talents of the most skilful artistes of the Greek nation could 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



185 



supply ; but in the midst of this scene of perhaps riotous festivity, we 
must not overlook the wise policy of Alexander, by -which he endea- 
voured to blend the conquerors and the conquered into one nation by 
the strong ties of intermarriage. It was obviously, also, a further 
design of Alexander, as we see from his historian, to train the natives 
of Asia to European arms and manoeuvres, and, by incorporating 
them with his troops, and forming also new bodies, to render himself 
independent of the control of his Macedonians. 

Discovery and works of utility also still engaged his attention. He 
sailed down the Karoon (Arrian, vii. 7, says the Eul?eus) into the 
gulf, examined part of the delta of these rivers, and, ascending the 
Shat el Arab, Avent up the Tigris as far as Opis. In this voyage he 
removed several of those large masses of masonry, commonly called 
bunds, which were built across the river for the purpose of making a 
head of water and favouring irrigation ; but they proved at the same 
time an impediment to the navigation, which it was the conqueror's 
policy to improve and extend. Various remains of such constructions 
exist at the present day in the rivers of Susiana. 

Having quelled a rising mutiny among his Macedonians, and dis- 
missed the worn-out veterans with more than their full pay, he went, 
about the close of the year B. c. 324, to Ecbatana, the northern capi- 
tal of the empire, where Hephajstion, his favourite, died. The grief 
of Alexander, which was no doubt sincere, displayed itself in all the 
outward circumstances of sorrow, but, from the mass of contradictory 
accounts, Arrian (vii. 14) found no little trouble in extracting a pro- 
bable and a rational narrative. On his route towards Babylon from 
Ecbatana, (Hamadan,) Alexander diverted his grief by subduing the 
Cossai, a mountain tribe of robbers, whom he entirely rooted out, as he 
thought, but they soon showed themselves again. It seems as if the 
temperament of Alexander required a feverish excitement, and that 
rest and inactivity would have proved more fatal to his existence than 
the most incessant toil. Neither the severity of winter nor the diffi- 
culties of the country proved any obstacle "to Alexander and 
Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, who commanded part of the army." On 
his approach to the ancient city of Babylon, he was met by embassies 
from nearly every part of the known world, who had come to pay 
their respects to the new lord of Asia — from Carthage, from South- 
ern Italy, from Europe north of the Black Sea ; Celts and Iberians 
too, it is said, paid their homage in this motley assemblage. 

The priests of the temple of Belus endeavoured to persuade the 
king that he could not safely enter the city : the great Belus himself 
had given this warning. Their motives, as Arrian tells us, and as 



186 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



we might readily suspect, were not so disinterested as they appeared. 
The great temple was in ruins, and the priests had made little pro- 
gress in rebuilding it, according to the orders given during Alexan- 
der's first visit, (Arrian, iii. 16 :) they enjoyed, however, its ample 
revenues, which, like prudent economists, they had no wish to expend 
on a useless building. The king despised the warning of Belus and 
his priests, and entered the city. 

In Babylon Alexander proposed to fix the seat of his empire, and 
to live in a style of splendour unknown even to the monarchs of the 
East. His projects were grand and characteristic. He sent Hera- 
clides to build vessels on the Caspian, and to explore these unknown 
waters, which Herodotus, a century before, had declared to be an 
inland sea, but other opinions connected with the Euxine or the Great 
Ocean. He excavated a basin at Babylon to hold the vessels that 
should navigcite the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates, while he spared 
no pains to induce skilful seamen to repair to his new capital. The 
circumnavigation of the Arabian peninsula, and the subjection of its 
predatory hordes, were also part of his plan, but no commander of 
those Vf'ho were sent out ventured farther than Cape Maketa, (Cape 
Mussendom,) at the entrance of the gulf. The improvement of the 
agriculture of the fertile Babylonian plains was another object of his 
policy ; as a preliminary to which the numerous canals for irrigation 
required repair, and the great drain from the river during the season 
of the floods, the Pallacopas, was rendered more efficient. These fer- 
tile regions still retain the traces of the ancient Babylonian culture 
in their canals, embankments, and other contrivances for irrigation ; 
but they wait for the presence of a wise and powerful government to 
secure to the labourer the produce of his industry, and to rouse him 
by example to attain the happiness which nature is ready to bestow. 

In the midst of these undertakings, and the preparation for his 
Arabian expedition, Alexander died. The immediate cause of his 
death Avas a fever, probably contracted while superintending the work 
in the marshes round Babylon, and aggravated by a recent debauch. 
The daily bulletins during his illness may be seen in Arrian ; he seems 
to have had no physician. This is nearly all that can with certainty 
be said about the circumstances of his death. He died at the early 
age of thirty-two years and eight months, after a reign of twelve years 
and eight months ; daring nearly the whole of which time his sword 
was actively employed in diminishing the numbers of the human race. 
Arrian has pronounced his perhaps too partial panegyric, the truth 
of which, however, no one should dispute till he has carefully weighed 
the whole evidence. " Whoever," says the historian in conclusion, 



ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



187 



" vilifies Alexander, should not allege merely those events of his life 
which merit blame, but should collect all the facts of his life, and then 
consider, first, who he is himself, and what has been his own fortune ; 
and then, who Alexander was, and how great was Ms fortune : he 
should consider that Alexander was the undoubted monarch of two 
continents, and spread his name over the whole earth ; and especially 
should the vilifier of Alexander bear this in mind, if he is himself 
a person of little importance, engaged in matters also of little import- 
ance, and not managing even these well. I think there was no nation, 
nor city, nor individual of that day, who had not heard of Alexander's 
name. It is my opinion, then, that such a man, who was like no 
other mortal, would never have been born without a special provi- 
dence." 

Alexander is said to have had a handsome person. He died with- 
out leaving any undisputed successor or any distinct declaration of 
his will. His wife Roxana was with child at the time of his death. 

His body was embalmed probably after the manner in use amono- 
the Persians, and finally deposited at Alexandria in Egypt, thouo-h 
all the circumstances attending its transport are exceedingly contra- 
dictory and uncertain. 



:'^T'%ih>.-^ , ^-i^r"^^ 





Vesuvius. 



ROME. 




'F (says Dr. Arnold, in his admirable liistorj) it is hard to 
carry back our ideas of Rome from its actual state to 
the period of its highest splendour, it is yet harder to 
go back in fancy to a time still more distant, a time 
earlier than the beginning of its authentic history, be- 
fore man's art had completely rescued the very soil of 
the future city from the dominion of nature. Here also 
it is vain to attempt accuracy in the details, or to be 
certain that the several features in our description all existed at the 
same period. It is enough if we can image to ourselves some like- 
ness of the original state of Rome, before the undertaking of those 
great works which are ascribed to the late kings. 

The Pomoerium of the original city on the Palatine, as described by 
Tacitus, included not only the hill itself, but some portion of the 
ground immediately below it ; it did not, however, reach as far as any 
of the other hills. The valley between the Palatine and the Aventine, 
afterward the site of the Circus Maximus, was in the earliest times 
covered with water ; so also was the greater part of the valley between 
the Palatine and the Capitoline, the ground afterward occupied by 
the Roman forum. 

But the city- of the Palatine hill grew in process of time, so as to 
become a city of seven hills. Not the seven famous hills of imperial or 
republican Rome, but seven spots more or less elevated, and all belong- 
iss 



ROME. 



191 



ing to three only of the later seven hills, that is, to the Palatine, the 
Cselian, and the Esquiline. At this time, Rome, already a city on 
seven hills, was distinct from the Sabine city on the Capitoline, Qui- 
rinal, and Viminal hills. The two cities, although united under one 
government, had still a separate existence ; they were not completely 
blended into one till the reigns of the later kings. The territory of 
the original Rome during its first period, the true Ager Romanus, 
could be gone round in a single day. It did not extend beyond the 
Tiber at all, nor probably beyond the Anio ; and on the east and 
south, where it had most room to spread, its limit was between five 
and six miles from the city. This Ager Romanus was the exclusive 
property of the Roman people, that is, of the houses ; it did not include 
the lands conquered from the Latins, and given back to them again 
when the Latins became the plehs, or commons of Rome. 

Well indeed may the inquiring historian exclaim — And now what 
was Rome, and what was the country around it, which have both 
acquired an interest such as can cease only when earth itself shall 
perish ? The hills of Rome (he continues) are such as we rarely see 
in England ; low in height, but with steep and rocky sides. In early 
times the wood remained in natural patches amid the buildings, as 
at this day it grows here and there on the green sides of the Monte 
Testaceo. Across the Tiber the ground rises to a greater height than 
that of the Roman hills, but its summit is a level unbroken line, 
while the heights, which opposite to Rome rise immediately from the 
river, under the names of Janiculus and Vaticanus, then sweep away 
to some distance from it, and return in their highest and boldest 
form at the Mens Marius, just above the Milvian bridge and the Fla- 
minian road. Thus to the west the view is immediately bounded ; 
but to the north and northeast the eye ranges over the low ground 
of the Campagna to the nearest line of the Apennines, which closes 
up, as with a gigantic wall, all the Sabine, Latin, and Volscian low- 
lands, while over it are still distinctly to be seen the high summits of 
the central Apennines, covered with snow, even at this day, for more 
than six months in the year. South and southwest lies the wide plain 
of the Campagna ; its level line succeeded by the equally level line 
of the sea, which can only be distinguished from it by the brighter 
light reflected from its waters. Eastward, after ten miles of plain, 
the view is bounded by the Alban hills, a cluster of high, bold points 
rising out of the Campagna, on the highest of which (about 3000 feet) 
stood the temple of Jupiter Latiarius, the scene of the common worship 
of all the people of the Latin name. Immediately under this highest 
point lies the crater-like basin of the Alban lake ; and on its nearer 



192 



ROME. 



rim might be seen the trees of the grove of Ferentia, where the Latins 
held the great civil assemblies of their nation. Further to the north, 
on the edge of the Alban hills, looking towards Rome, was the town 
and citadel of Tusculum ; and beyond this, a lower summit crowned 
with the walls and towers of Labicum seems to connect the Alban hills 
with the line of the Apennines, just at the spot where the citadel of 
Prseneste, high up on the mountain side, marks the opening into the 
country of the Hernicans, and into the valleys of the streams that 
feed the Lyris. 

Returning nearer to Rome, the lowland country of the Campagna 
is broken by long, green, swelling ridges. The streams are dull and 
sluggish, but the hill-sides above them constantly break away into little 
rock cliffs, where on every ledge the wild fig now strikes out its 
branches, and tufts of broom are clustering, but which in old times 
formed the natural strength of the citadels of the numerous cities of 
Latium. Except in these narrow dells, the present aspect of the coun- 
try is all bare and desolate, with no trees nor any human habitation. 
But anciently, in the earlier times of Rome, it was full of independent 
cities, and in its population and the careful cultivation of its little gar- 
den-like farms, must have resembled the most flourishing parts of 
Lombardy. Such was Rome, and such its neighbourhood. 

The foregoing topographical observations appear to be necessary, 
before the reader enters upon even a brief recital of any of those cir- 
cumstances which — whether legendary or strictly true, whether fabu- 
lous or merely exaggerated — have been handed down from age to age 
as the veritable history of Rome. 






FOUNDING OF ROME— ROMULUS AND REMUS. 

B. c. 752. 

iNDER a thick veil of mythological tradition, in 
which a few leading facts are buried under a mass 
of pure fiction, the annals of Rome for the first 
four centuries after the foundation of the city 
are presented to us by its best historians. Recent 
inquirers, among whom Niebuhr is the most cele- 
brated, have shown that the histories of Livy and 
other great Roman writers have been chiefly made up, so far as relates 
to this period, from old heroic songs, written to flatter the national 
vanity, and filled with romantic stories having no foundation in truth. 
An attempt to separate the truth from the fiction would lead to a 
great deal of dry disquisition ; and as these legends are perpetually 
referred to in all ancient and modern literature, we prefer to imitate 
the example of Dr. Arnold, and give the legends in the old simple 
form, cautioning the reader to regard them as legends, and not as 
unquestioned history. After the time of Camillus, the Roman his- 
tory assumes a more authentic form. We quote, for the present, 
from Keightley. 

The Roman historians have related the early annals of the city of 
Rome in the following manner : — 

AVhen Troy was taken by the Greeks, a Trojan prince named ^neas, 
and said to be a son of the goddess Venus by a mortal father, fled 
from that city, and, embarking with those who would follow his for- 
tunes, sailed westward. After a variety of adventures, he reached 
the coast of Latium, on the western side of Italy, and Latinus, the 

13 lys 



194 FOUNDING OF ROME. 



king of the country, allowed him to settle there, and gave him his 
daughter Lavinia in marriage. 

Some time after, in a war with the people of the country, ^neas 
disappeared on the banks of a river, (whether drowned or not was 
uncertain,) and he was thenceforth worshipped as a god. He was 
succeeded by his son, named Ascanius or lulus, who had accompanied 
him from Troy ; and this prince removed his people from the seacoast, 
and built a town over a lake on the side of a mountain, which, from 
its appearance, was named Alba Longa, or, as we might express it in 
English, Long Whitton. 

The family of ^neas reigned in Alba for the space of three hun- 
dred years. One of the last of these monarchs, when dying, left two 
sons, named Numitor and Amulius, the former of whom being of a 
quiet, gentle temper, the ambitious younger brother deprived him of 
the throne, and left him only the lands belonging to the family. The 
son of Numitor was a young man of some spirit, and Amulius, fearing 
lest he might assert his right to the throne, caused him to be murdered 
as he was out hunting. As Numitor's only remaining child was a 
daughter named Silvia, Amulius, to prevent her from marrying, placed 
her among the vestal virgins, who were a kind of nuns, whose duty it 
was to watch the sacred fire which burned perpetually in the temple 
of the goddess Vesta. 

But all the precautions of Amulius proved vain. One day, when 
Silvia went into the sacred grove of the god Mars to draw water for 
the use of the temple, she saw a M'olf, and fled for refuge into a cavern. 
While she was there, the god himself appeared to her and made her 
his spouse. In due time the pains of labour came on her in the very 
temple of Vesta, and she brought forth twins. Amulius immediately 
ordered herself and her babes to be cast into the river Tiber. The 
god of the stream, it was said, saved and espoused Silvia ; the protect- 
ing care of their sire was extended to the innocent babes. The ark 
or trough in which they had been placed floated along the river till 
it reached some hills on its side, where the river had overflowed ; it 
upset in the soft mud at the foot of one of them. A she-wolf, who 
came to slake her thirst, heard their whimpering ; she conveyed them 
to her den on the hill, where she suckled them with the fondness of a 
mother. A woodpecker also brought them food, and they throve and 
grew strong. At length Faustulus, the king's herdsman, who lived 
on the hill, happened to discover them ; the wolf, as her task was now 
accomplished, retired, and he took them to his cottage and reared 
them with his own sons. 

The twins, who were named Romulus and Remus, when they grew 



FOUNDING OP ROME. 195 



up, distinguislied themselves among the shepherd-lads by their strength 
and courage. They had many encounters with the herdsmen of Nu- 
mitor, whose cattle fed on one of the adjacent hills, and in one of 
these Remus was made a prisoner and carried away to Alba. The 
king handed him over to Numitor, who, struck with the noble appear- 
ance of the youth, questioned him about his parentage ; and, on hear- 
ing his story, began to suspect that he might be his grandson. Faus- 
tulus meantime, who had a similar suspicion, revealed his thoughts to 
Romulus, and that fiery youth resolved at once to free his brother 
and restore his grandsire to his rights. His comrades, by his direc- 
tions, entered Alba at different parts, and then uniting, fell on and 
slew the tyrant and placed Numitor on the throne. 

The two brothers resolved to build a town for themselves, and their 
old rustic comrades joined them in their project. The place which 
they fixed on was the hills where they had passed their boyish days ; 
but a dispute arose as to which of the hills should be its site, and 
after which of the brothers it should be named. They then agreed 
that each should sit on his hill at midnight and watch for the flight 
of particular kinds of birds ; they did so. Day came and went, and 
no birds appeared ; toward dawn of the second day, Remus saw six 
vultures ; at sunrise the news came to Romulus, but just then twelve 
vultures flew past him. A contest therefore arose, as, though Remus 
had seen the birds first, a double number had appeared to Romulus, 
and the party of the latter proved the stronger ; the town was there- 
fore to be called Rome, and to be built on the Palatine hill. Romu- 
lus drove a plough round the hill to mark out the extent of his town, 
and, on the line drawn by the plough, his men began to erect a wall. 
Remus in derision leaped over the rising wall, and Romulus, in a rage, 
struck him with a spade and killed him, crying, " So perish he who 
will leap over my walls !" But grief soon succeeded to his rage, and 
it was long before he could be comforted. 

As a means of increasing the population of his new town, Romulus 
opened an asylum, or place of refuge for all who might choose to 
resort to it. Those who came were naturally of a very indifferent 
character, such as debtors, criminals, and runaway slaves ; and as 
there could be, of course, few or no women among his subjects, he 
was greatly perplexed how to get wives for them ; for the people of 
the neighbouring towns, when he applied to them, would on no account 
bestow their daughters in marriage on such a rabble. He therefore 
had recourse to artifice, and he proclaimed through all the surround- 
ing country, that on a certain day horse-races and other games would 
be celebrated at Rome. On the appointed day, a good number of the 



196 FOUNDING OF ROME. 



neighbouring people came to Rome, accompanied by their wives and 
daughters. The sports began, and while the strangers were eagerly 
gazing, the Roman youths rushed in with drawn swords and carried 
oflF a number of their maidens ; the parents fled in dismay, calling on 
the gods to avenge such perfidy. The people of the insulted cities 
took arms against the Romans ; but as they did not unite, and each 
attacked them singly, they were all in succession overcome by Romu- 
lus and his hardy subjects. 

Among the people whose daughters were thus torn away from them 
were the Sabines, a hardy and valiant race. After making due pre- 
paration, they advanced against Rome, led by their king, Titus Tatius. 
As they came down the b^^nks of the Tiber, the Capitoline hill lay 
between them and Rome, which stood on the Palatine. The Romans 
had placed a garrison on that hill ; but Tarpeia, the daughter of the 
governor, as she went down to draw water, met the Sabines, and she 
agreed to open a gate for them if they would give her what they wore 
on their left arms, meaning their golden bracelets. She kept her 
word ; but when she claimed her reward, they cast their shields, which 
they bore on their left arms, on her, and the traitress perished be- 
neath their weight. 

The Romans were now in possession of one hill and the Sabines 
of another, and the valley between them (afterwards called the Forum) 
was their battle-field. Here, as the two armies were hotly engaged, 
the Sabine women suddenly appeared to them with their garments 
rent and their hair dishevelled, and called on their fathers and hus- 
bands to cease from the impious conflict. Both sides dropped their 
arms and stood in silence. A treaty was concluded, by which the 
two nations became one people under Romulus and Tatius. The 
nation was divided into two orders, the Patricians and the Plebeians. 

Rome now flourished more and more every day. Tatius having 
been slain in a private quarrel, Romulus once more reigned alone. 
After he had reigned seven-and-thirty years, as he was one day re- 
viewing his army, there came on a sudden storm, which dispersed the 
people and made them fly to shelter ; and amid the thunder, lightning, 
and rain. Mars, it is said, descended in his flaming chariot and carried 
his son away to the abode of the gods. When the tempest was over 
the people returned, but their king was nowhere to be found ; and 
they were inconsolable for his loss, till a respectable man came for- 
ward and assured them, that as he was coming from Alba by moon- 
light, Romulus had appeared to him in glory, and bade him to tell his 
people not to lament him, but to worship him as a god under the name 
of Quirinus. 





NUMA POMPILIUS, TULLUS HOSTILIUS, AND 
ANGUS MARCIUS. 

T Rome, as everywhere else, tliere was a senate, com- 
posed of the more aged and respectable citizens, to 
act as a council and to make laws. After the disap- 
pearance of Romulus, the senate tried to keep the 
government in its own hands ; but the people were 
not satisfied, and insisted on having a king. It was 
then agreed that the king should be a Sabine, but that he should 
be chosen by the Romans. The person selected was Numa 
Tf Pompilius, a native of the Sabine town of Cures, a man famous 
^ for his wisdom and virtue. The reign of this prince was long 
and free from war. His thoughts were all turned to the arts of peace 
and the introduction of a respect for religion among the rude people 
over whom he had been called to rule, and it was to him that Rome 
was chiefly indebted for her religious institutions. A goddess named 
Egeria had, it was said, espoused this pious prince, and she used to 
meet him in a grove at a fount named from herself, and give him 
instructions which might enable him to make wise laws for his people. 
It was also said that when one time Rome was visited by terrific light- 
nings and thunder, Numa caused the god Jupiter to descend from 

heaven and teach him how they might be averted. 

197 



198 TULLUS HOSTILIUS. 



The next king, named Tullus Hostilius, was of a character more 
like that of Romulus than of Numa. He was, therefore, anxious for 
war, and he soon contrived to pick a quarrel with the people of Alba. 
The two armies met, and, as they stood in array of battle, the Alban 
general, named Mettius, proposed that to avoid bloodshed their dis- 
pute should be decided by a single combat of three champions on each 
side, the people whose champions should be defeated being to submit 
to the other. Though Tullus would have preferred a battle, he could 
not reject so reasonable a proposal, and the treaty was made. 

There happened to be in each army three twin-brothers, whose 
mothers were sisters ; the Romans were named the Horatii, the Albans 
the Curiatii. To these the combat was committed, and they advanced 
fully armed into the space between the two armies, who sat down in 
their ranks to view the combat. When they met they drew their 
swords and engaged hand to hand. Their countrymen viewed the 
encounter in deep silence. At length two of the Romans were seen 
to fall dead ; the third, however, was still unhurt, and all the Albans 
were wounded. A shout of triumph rose in the Alban army ; the 
Romans gave up all hope, and now their only surviving champion was 
seen flying like a coward. But his flight Avas only feigned, in order 
that he might separate his antagonists. When he saw one of the 
Curiatii in advance of his brothers, he turned and slew him ; the same 
fate befell each of the others as he came up. The surviving Horatius 
remained sole master of the field, and Alba submitted to Rome. 

When the Roman army returned home, Horatius marched proudly 
at its head, bearing the arms and other spoils of those he had slain. 
At the gate of the city he was met by his sister, who was the promised 
bride of one of the Curiatii. When she saw among the bloody spoils 
a surcoat which she had woven with her own hands and given to her 
lover, she loosed her hair and bewailed his fate. Her brother in a 
rage drew his sword and plunged it into her bosom, crying, " Such be 
the fate of her who bewails an enemy of Rome !" The bystanders 
were filled with horror ; the murderer was seized and led before the 
king, at whose order he was tried by the judges. Their sentence was 
that he should be scourged and then hanged. The officers were laying 
hold on him, when, by the king's advice, he appealed to the people. 
His father pleaded for him with tears, and the people acquitted him 
of the murder. 

A war broke out some time after between the Romans and the people 
of the neighbouring town of Fidenae. Tullus summoned the Albans 
to his standard, and in the battle he placed them on the right wing of 
his army ; but Mettius, who had secretly kindled the war, gradually 



ANGUS MAKCIUS. 



199 



drew off his troops in order that the Romans might he defeated. Ilis 
plan, however, did not succeed ; his treachery was detected, and the 
enemy was routed. When the victory was won, he came to congratu- 
late Tullus, who took no notice of his conduct, hut received him kindly, 
and he thought himself secure. Next day the king assemhled all his 
troops ; the Albans, to prove their loyalty, came the first and stood 
around him unarmed. Meantime the Romans, by Tullus's directions, 
took their arms and surrounded them. When they were thus taken 
in the toils, the king reproached Mettius with his treachery ; a heavy 
punishment he told him awaited him : Alba should be destroyed and 
its people be removed to Rome. Resistance now was hopeless ; two 
chariots were brought, and Mettius's legs and arms were bound to them ; 
they were then driven, the one toward Rome, the other toward Fidenee, 
and the traitor was thus torn asunder. Troops had meantime gone 
to Alba and commenced the destruction of the town. The temples of 
the gods alone were left standing : one of the hills at Rome was 
assigned to the Albans for their abode. 

The successor of Tullus was Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa, 
whom he resembled in character. His reign, therefore, was peaceful 
and marked by few events. He was succeeded by Tarquin the Elder. 





Roman Architecture. 



THE TARQUINS— FALL OF THE MONARCHY. 




ARQUINIUS, or, as he is usually called, Tarquin, proved 
an able and a powerful monarch, wise in peace and vic- 
torious in war. He greatly improved the citj, and he 
made some alteration in the constitution of the state. 
One of his proposed changes not being agreeable to the 
nobility, they employed an augur or soothsayer, named Attus Navius, 
to oppose it. The king, annoyed at his opposition, told him to augur 
if what he was then thinking of could be done. Navius replied that 
it could. " Then," cried the king, triumphantly, " I was thinking 
that you should cut a whetstone through with a razor." The augur 
took the stone and razor and did as the king required. 

In one of the wars of king Tarquinius, on the taking of a town, 
when the people were reduced to slavery, according to the usual cus- 
tom, a woman of rank fell to the share of the king, in whose house 

200 



THE TARQUINS. 201 



she became servant. While there she saw a vision of the fire-god, 
and Tanaquil (Tarquin's wife) immediately arrayed her as a bride, and 
shut her up in the apartment where she had had the vision. She in 
consequence became a mother, and her child was named Servius Tul- 
lius. The child was brought up in the palace, and one day, when he 
fell asleep in the porch, flames were observed to play round his 
head without doing him the slightest injui-y. From this Tanaquil 
inferred that he was destined to greatness, and she caused him to be 
brought up with the greatest care ; and when he was grown to man's 
age, and had given proofs of wisdom and courage, she united him in 
marriage with her daughter, and it was generally supposed that the 
king intended him for his successor, but Servius Tullius secured the 
succession to himself. After reigning thirty-eight years, Tarquin was 
murdered by the sons of Ancus. 

The reign of Servius was peaceful, like that of Numa. He was the 
poor man's friend ; he paid the debts of those who were in distress, 
and he bestowed lands on those whose poverty was pressing. He also 
divided the people into classes, so that their taxes should be in pro- 
portion to their property. 

This good king reigned more than forty years in peace and prospe- 
rity. At length his life was terminated by crime, in the following 
manner. He had given his two daughters in marriage to the two 
sons, or rather grandsons, of the late king Tarquinius, named Lucius 
and Aruns. As the former was of a haughty, violent temper, he 
united him with the more gentle of his daughters, while he gave Tullia, 
his other daughter, who was proud and violent, to Aruns, whose cha- 
racter was the opposite of his brother's. Soon, however, Lucius and 
Tullia fell in love with each other ; and when his wife and her husband 
died suddenly, (poisoned perhaps,) they made the king consent to their 
marriage. 

Urged on by his unprincipled wife, and relying on the support of 
the patricians, who were displeased at the laws of king Servius, Tar- 
quinius resolved to usurp the throne. Accordingly he went one day, 
surrounded by armed men, to the senate-house, and ordered the herald 
to summon the senators to meet king Tarquinius. When they came 
he addressed them, stating his claims to the throne. While he was 
speaking the king arrived, and demanded why he dared to take the 
royal seat. Tarquinius made an insolent reply, and then seizing him 
round the waist, flung him down the steps of the senate-house. The 
king, sorely bruised by the fall, got up and was slowly moving home- 
ward, when he was overtaken and slain by those who had been sent 
after him by the usurper, and his body was left lying in the street. 



202 THE TARQUINS. 



As soon as Tullia heard of what had been done, she mounted her 
chariot and drove to the senate-house. She called her husband out, 
and was the first to salute him king. At his desire she then went 
home, and her way chanced to lie through the street where her father 
had been slain. The mules which drew her chariot started when thej 
came to the corpse of the king ; the driver, in horror, turned and 
looked his mistress in the face. " Why do you stop ?" cried she. 
" See you not the body of your father ?" replied the man. She flung 
the footstool at his head ; he lashed on the mules, and the chariot 
passed over the body of the king, whose blood spirted over the clothes 
of his unnatural child. It was reported that when some time after 
Tullia entered a temple in which there stood a statue of her father, it 
covered its face with its hands, and was heard to say, «' Hide me, that 
I may not behold my impious daughter." 

Tarquin maintained by cruelty the crown he had acquired by crime, 
and all orders of the people soon saw cause to regret the good Ser- 
vius. He put to death such of the senators as he disliked or feared ; 
and he surrounded himself with a guard of armed men, a thing which 
none of the kin2;s before him had done. 

Towards the close of Tarquin's reign, prodigies of various kinds 
came to disturb the repose of the king. One day, for example, as he 
was offering a sacrifice to the gods, a serpent came out of the altar, 
seized the flesh of the victim, and put out the fire. This seemed so 
ominous, that Tarquin sent two of his sons to consult the famous 
oracle of Delphi, in Greece, about its meaning. There went with 
them their cousin Lucius Junius, who was nicknamed Brutus, that is. 
Fool ; for when Tarquin had put his elder brother to death to get his 
property, Lucius, to save his life, counterfeited folly. 

The reply of the oracle was, that Tarquin would fall when a dog 
(meaning Brutus) spake with a human voice. The Tarquins then 
asked which of them should reign at Rome. " He who first kisses 
his mother," was the reply. They resolved not to tell Sextus, and 
to decide by lot between themselves. But Brutus, who saw the 
meaning of the oracle better than they, pretended to stumble and fall 
as they were leaving the temple ; and, as he lay on the ground, he 
kissed the earth, the common mother of all. His offering to the god 
had been his staff of cornel-wood, Avhich he had secretly filled with 
gold, an emblem of himself. 

Tarquin some time after laid siege to a town named Ardea. As it 
stood on the summit of a steep hill, it could only be reduced by block- 
ade, and the Roman army lay encamped around it. While they were 
thus inactive, the king's sons amused their leisure by mutual ban- 



THE TARQUINS. 203 



quets ; and at one of these, they and their cousin Collatinus fell into 
a dispute about the virtues of their wives. When they could not 
settle the matter by argument, they agreed to mount their horses 
that very moment, and to go and take their wives by surprise. They 
rode first to Rome, and arriving just at nightfall, found the royal 
ladies revelling at a banquet. Then they went on to Collatia, where 
Collatinus's house was, and though it was late in the night when they 
arrived, his wife Lucretiawas sitting spinning among her maids. The 
prize was at once yielded to her, and she entertained her husband and 
his cousins with cheerfulness and modesty. They then mounted their 
horses and returned to the camp. 

A few days after Sextus Tarquin came to Collatia, attended by a 
single slave, and went to the house of Collatinus. Lucretia received 
him as her husband's kinsman, and a chamber was assigned him for 
the night. He retired, but when all was still he arose, and taking 
his drawn sword in his hand, sought the chamber of his hostess. He 
awoke her with declarations of love ; he prayed, he besought, but all 
in vain. He then menaced to slay her, and with her his slave, and 
to declare that he had caught them in the act of adultery, and thus 
punish them. The dread of a disgraced memory effected what no 
other motive could, and she submitted to his wishes. In the morning 
he arose, and returned to the camp before Ardea. Lucretia imme- 
diately sent trusty messengers to summon her husband and her father 
Lucretius. They came ; the former accompanied by Brutus, whom 
he chanced to meet on the way ; the latter by Valerius, a man of 
rank at Rome. They found Lucretia sitting mournful in her cham- 
ber. She told them all that had happened, and implored them to 
avenge her, declaring that she would not survive her disgrace. They 
tried to console her, but she drew a concealed knife, and, before they 
were aware, plunged it into her heart. Her husband and father gave a 
loud cry of grief ; but Brutus seized the bloody weapon, and drawing 
it from the wound, swore on it eternal hatred to the tyrant and his 
family. He handed it to the others, and all of them took the same 
oath, amazed at the sudden change which had come over him. The 
body of Lucretia was brought out into the market-place, and Brutus, 
pointing to the wound, excited the people to vengeance. They thence 
went to Rome, where Brutus assembled the people, and told them his 
own story and that of Lucretia, and displayed the crimes and the cruelty 
of the tyrant. The multitude cried out that there should be no more 
kings at Rome. Brutus then set out with a select body of men for 
the camp ; Tarquin meantime, hearing what had occurred, was on his 
way, but by a different road, to Rome. Brutus was received with 



204 



THE TARQUINS. 



shouts of joy by the soldiers ; the tyrant found the gates of the city 
closed against him. He retired to Etruria. Sextus, the author of 
all the evil, went to Gabii, where he was slain soon after by the rela- 
tions of those whom he had caused to be put to death. 

Thus was royalty ended at Rome. Instead of kings, it was resolved 
to have two magistrates, named consuls, to be appointed every year. 
The first consuls chosen were Brutus and Collatinus, (b. c. 508.) 





CORIOLANUS. 




N a war with the Volscians a gallant patrician had greatly 
distinguished himself, and he had been the chief means 
of taking the town of Oorioli, whence he was named 
Coriolanus. He was very proud and haughty, and a 
great enemy to the plebeians. 
It happened soon after that Rome was visited with 
a grievous famine. Agents were sent in all quarters, even as far as 
the island of Sicily, to purchase corn, and a large quantity arrived 
from that island, partly purchased, partly the gift of a prince who 
reigned there. It was proposed in the senate to distribute this gift- 
corn among the people without payment, and to sell the remainder to 
them at a low price. But Coriolanus said no, this was the time to 
make them do away with the tribunes, and advised not to give them 
the corn on any other terms. When the tribunes heard of this pro- 
posal, they accused him as an enemy of the people ; and as he knew 
that he was sure to be condemned, he quitted Rome and went into 
exile. 

The place which he selected for his abode was Antium, one of the 
chief cities of the Volscians. He lived in the house of Tullius, the 
king of the place, and he offered his services against his country. But 
there was at that time peace between the Romans and the Volscians, 
and it did not appear easy to make the latter people break it. Tullius 

207 



208 comoLANus. 



had, therefore, recourse to stratagem, and he took advantage of the 
following occasion. 

There used at certain seasons to be celebrated at Rome, in honour 
of the gods, what were called the Great Games, consisting of chariot- 
races and other exercises. They were to be now repeated ; for when 
they had last taken place, and, as was the custom, the images of the 
gods were carried around the circus in which they were to be per- 
formed, to sanctify it, a slave, whom his master had condemned to 
death, was driven across and scourged. No notice was taken of this 
circumstance, and the games went on as usual ; but soon after the city 
was visited by a pestilence, and various prodigies occurred. The 
soothsayers could tell neither the cause nor the remedy ; at length 
Jupiter appeared in a dream to a countryman named Latinius, and 
directed him to go to the consuls and tell them that the preluder to 
the games (meaning the slave) had been displeasing to him. Latinius, 
fearing that he should be only laughed at, did not venture to go near 
the consuls. A few days after his son died suddenly, and the vision 
again appeared to him, and menaced him with a greater evil if he de- 
layed going to the consuls. But he still hesitated, and he then lost 
the use of his limbs. He at length made the matter known to his 
kinsmen and friends, and they agreed that it were best to carry him 
in his bed to the forum. The consuls when he came directed him to 
be brought into the senate-house, and he there told his wonderful tale, 
and scarcely had he completed it when another miracle took place, for 
he all at once recovered the use of his limbs, and walked out of the 
senate-house. 

The games were now renewed with great splendour, and Tullius 
took advantage of the resort of people to them to kindle a war. 
He went secretly to the consuls, and told them that he was apprehen- 
sive lest his countrymen, who were come in great numbers to the 
festival, should commit some acts of violence. The senate, in conse- 
quence, issued a hasty order for all Volscians to quit the city by sun- 
set. They departed in great anger, and Tullius, who had gone before, 
met them on the way, and excited them to vengeance for the insult. 

War was now declared by the Volscians, and Tullius and Coriolanus 
were appointed to command their armies. Coriolanus was everywhere 
successful ; he took a number of towns, and at length pitched his camp 
within five miles of Rome. No one thought of resisting him ; a decree 
was passed for restoring him to all his former rights and honours, and 
five senators bore it to his camp. But he insisted that the lands taken 
from the Volscians should also be restored. He gave them thirty days 
to consider, and meantime led off his troops. When he returned, the 



CORIOLANUS. 



209 




Coriolanus yielding to the entreaties of his raother. 

principal senators waited on him, and he gave three days more. Next 
day the priests entered his camp in their sacred habits, and tried but 
in vain to move him. The third day came, and his army was expect- 
ing to be led against Rome, when a long procession of Roman ladies 
was seen approaching. It was headed by the exile's venerable mother 
and his wife leading her two children. It entered the Volscian camp 
and advanced to the tent of the general. Coriolanus received them 
with respect ; the tears of his wife and the other ladies melted his 
haughty soul ; he shuddered at the menaced curse of his aged parent ; 
he burst into tears. " Mother," cried he, " thou hast chosen between 
Rome and thy son : me thou wilt never see more ; may they requite 
thee !" He embraced his wife and children, and then dismissed them, 
and on the following day he led off his army. He passed the remainder 
of his life among the Volscians, and when he died the women of Rome 
mourned for him as they had done for Brutus. 






CINCINNATUS. 

B. c. 456. 

|OME years after the Romans were at war with 
the people named the iEquians. A peace was 
made, but the iEquians broke it, and began to 
ravage the lands of the Latins, who were the 
allies of the Romans. Ambassadors were sent 
to the ^quian camp to complain of this breach 
of faith. The ^quian general was sitting 
under the shade of a spreading oak, and he insolently desired them 
to make their complaint to the tree. The Romans then took the oak 
and the gods to witness the justice of their cause and departed, and a 
Roman army soon was in the field against the ^quians. But fortune 
favoured the guilty side, for the Roman army was shut up in its camp 
by the enemy, and a rampart raised all round it. Ere the rampart, 
however, was completed, five of the horsemen made their escape and 
carried the tidings to Rome. 

It was the custom of the Romans, on occasions of imminent danger, 
to create a dictator, as the power of that ofiicer was unlimited. The 
choice of the senate now fell on Cincinnatus, one of the most dis- 

210 



CINCINNATUS. 211 



tinguished of their body, but who was so poor that he was living on a 
little farm of four acres beyond the Tiber, which he cultivated with 
his own hands. The officers sent to inform him of his appointment 
found him guiding his plough, with nothing on him but an apron, it 
being summer-time. They bade him dress himself to hear the message 
of the senate. He called to his wife to fetch him his toga, — so the 
Komans called the white mantle or rather shawl which formed their 
outer garment. She came with it out of their little cottage ; he put 
it on, and the officers then saluted him as dictator. A boat lay ready 
to convey him over the river ; at the other side he was met by his 
sons and other kinsmen and friends, and he was conducted by them 
to his abode. 

He entered the forum before dawn the next morning, and directed 
the shops to be closed and all business to be suspended ; he then 
ordered all those who were of the age for military service to be ready 
by sunset, each with twelve palisades and a supply of provisions for 
five days. At nightfall all were ready, and, the dictator placing 
himself at their head, they set out, and at midnight they halted near 
the camp of the enemy. The dictator rode forward to take a view of 
it, directing his officers to make their men leave their baggage where 
they were, and to march on with only their arms and the palisades, 
and when they reached the enemy's camp to set up a shout and com- 
mence forming a ditch and rampart round it. His orders were 
obeyed ; a loud shout arose, which, pealing over the ^quian camp, 
reached the ears of the Romans, and assured them that deliverance 
was at hand. The besieged then burst forth, and engaged and fought 
with the ^quians till the dawn. In the mean time the dictator's 
army had completed their work, and the iEquians, finding themselves 
thus enclosed and assailed from both within and without, sued for 
mercy. The only terms the dictator would grant were the surrender 
of their general and his principal officers, and of one of their towns, 
with all the property in it, and the passage of their whole army under 
the yoke. These hard terms were agreed to. The yoke was set up, 
(it was formed of two spears set in the ground and another laid across, 
like a doorway,) and the whole ^quian army, each man wearing only 
a single garment, went through it and then departed. Their camp 
and all that it contained became the prize of the Romans. The dic- 
tator then led home his army. He entered the city in triumph ; as 
the soldiers passed along, they found tables spread with provisions 
before the doors of all the houses, and joy and festivity everywhere 
prevailed. The dictator then laid down his office, and returned to the 
cultivation of his little farm. 




THE DECEMVIRS— SICINIUS DENTATUS. 




s^ll^^^^l HE people at Eome had long been discontented with the 



state of the laws as being too much in favour of the 
patricians, and after a good deal of opposition it was 
agreed that a new code of laws should be framed. 
Deputies were sent to Greece, especially to Athens, to 
gain a knowledge of the laws and constitutions of that 
country, and on their return ten persons (thence named decemvirs, 
that is ten men) were appointed to make laws for the Roman people. 
As was the practice in such cases in ancient times, they were entrusted 
with absolute power, and there were no other magistrates left in the 
state. 

The decemvirs made an excellent code, which was contained in ten 
tables or laws ; but they said that these were not suflEicient, and that 
two tables more were required to complete the code. Accordingly a 
new board of decemvirs, containing some of the former members, was 
appointed. The two tables that were wanting were then framed, and 
the whole, under the name of the Twelve Tables, became the founda- 
tion of the Roman law. 

212 



THE DECEMVIRS. 213 



The decemvirs should now have gone out of office, but they had 
tasted the sweets of power, and they were resolved not to resign it, 
and there was no legal mode of compelling them to lay down their 
authority. They never assembled the senate, and the senators, having 
therefore little or nothing to do in the city, went and lived on their 
farms. The decemvirs got round them a number of the young patri- 
cians as a kind of body-guard, and they tyrannized as they pleased 
over the people. 

Fortunately for the decemvirs, the enemies of Rome remained at 
peace, so that there Avas no occasion for arming the people. But at 
length the Sabines and ^quians renewed hostilities, and it was ne- 
cessary to take up arms against them. Two armies were accordingly 
raised, of which eight of the decemvirs took the command, while their 
colleagues, Appius Claudius and Oppius, remained in charge of the 
city. Both armies, however, sooner than gain victories for the 
tyrannic decemvirs, suffered themselves to be beaten. 

In the army which went against the Sabines there w^as a dis- 
tinguished old soldier named, Sicinius Dentatus, who it is said had 
been present in not less than one hundred and twenty battles, had the 
scars of forty-five wounds on his body, and had gained military 
honours and rewards without number. The Roman camp happening 
to be near the Sacred Mount, Sicinius took occasion to remind the 
soldiers of what their fathers had been, and how at that very place 
they had recovered their rights from the haughty patricians, and he 
urged them to follow that noble example. The generals, alarmed at 
his conduct, resolved to put him out of the way, and, under the pretext 
of doing him honour, they sent him with a party to choose a place for 
encampment, giving secret orders to the soldiers to fall on him in 
some convenient place and slay him. Sicinius went suspecting no 
danger, but in a lonely spot his men suddenly assailed him. Placing 
his back against a rock, the veteran warrior defended himself man- 
fully, and before he fell he had slain fifteen and wounded thirty of 
his cowardly assailants. The survivors ran back to the camp, crying 
that they had fallen into an ambush of the enemy, who had slain 
their leader and several of their comrades. A party was then sent 
to bury the dead, but they could find no trace of an enemy ; the body 
of Sicinius lay unspoiled in his armour ; all the slain men were 
Romans, and their bodies were all turned toward his, whick proved 
that they must have fallen by his hand. It was therefore quite 
evident that he had perished by the treachery of the decemvirs. The 
soldiers were highly enraged, but the generals gave Sicinius a splendid 
military funeral, which pacified them in some measure. 





STORY OF VIRGINIA. 

B. c. 447. 

UT a far worse deed was done in the city. Appius, 
"wlien sitting on his judgment-seat in the forum, was 
in the habit of seeing a beautiful plebeian maiden 
going, attended by her nurse, to one of the schools 
which were held there. Her name was Virginia ; she 
was the daughter of a plebeian of good family named 
Virginius, who was then serving as a captain in the army which was 
acting against the ^quians, and she was betrothed to Icilius, who had 
been a tribune. Appius conceived a passion for her ; he tried the 
effect of promises and bribes, but to no effect ; but he was resolved 
to stop at no mode of getting the beautiful victim into his power. 
Accordingly one of his folloAvers, named Claudius, by his directions, 
seized her one day as she was crossing the forum, asserting that she 
was his slave. At the loud cries of Virginia's nurse a crowd assembled 
to oppos'fe him ; but he said that as his claim was a legal one, there 
was no need to employ force, and all the parties went before Appius, 
who was sitting on his tribunal. Claudius, as had been concerted with 
the judge, then said that Virginia was the child of one of his female 
slaves, by whom she had been given to the wife of Virginius, who was 

2U 



STORY OF VIRGINIA. 215 



barren, and that consequently she was his property. The friends of 
Virginia replied that it would be only reasonable to wait till Virginius 
could come from the camp, and that meantime, according to one of 
the decemvir's own laws, security should be taken for the appearance 
of the maiden. Appius, however, pretending that his law did not 
apply to this case, decided that she should be delivered up to the 
claimant on his giving security to produce her when required. But 
such a cry of horror was raised at this iniquitous decree, and the 
people seemed so determined to prevent its execution, that Appius 
found it prudent to give way, and Virginia was delivered up to her 
friends. 

It was the intention of Appius to send to his colleagues in the camp, 
directing them not to suffer Virginius to come to Rome, and to 
surround himself next day with a strong body of his dependants, and 
carry his point by force if necessary. But while, to remove suspicion, 
he sat some time longer in court, Icilius and his friends took care to 
detain him by making delay in arranging the securities ; and mean- 
time they had directed two active young men to mount, and ride off 
to the camp with all speed, and inform Virginius of what had occurred. 
They therefore arrived long before Appius's messenger ; and Vir- 
ginius, pretending the death of a relation, obtained leave of absence 
and came to Rome. 

At daybreak next morning the forum was filled with people ; Vir- 
ginius and his daughter came among them in the garb of mourners, 
and followed by a train of women. He implored their aid ; Icilius 
supported his entreaties ; the women wept in silence. Appius soon 
appeared at the head of an armed train. Claudius addressed him, 
gently reproaching him with not having done him justice the preceding 
day. Without listening to either party, Appius gave sentence in 
favour of the claimant, who advanced to lay hold on the maiden, but 
the women and their friends repelled him. Virginius then menaced 
the decemvir for his injustice, but Appius declared that he knew there 
was a conspiracy to resist the government, but that he would put it 
down by force. He then thundered out, " Go, officer, disperse the 
crowd, and make way for the master to take his slave." The people 
fell back : Virginius, seeing there was no hope from them, apologized 
for his vehemence, and asked permission to take his daughter and her 
nurse aside for a few minutes to examine them about the matter. 
Appius consented, and Virginius then drew them over to one of the 
butchers' shops, which were round the forum, and snatching up a 
knife and crying out, " I make you free, my child, in the only way in 
my power," plunged the knife into his daughter's bosom. Then, 



216 STORY OF VIRGINIA. 



looking to the tribunal, he added, " With this blood, Appius, I devote 
thee and thy life to the gods below." Appius called out to seize him, 
but, brandishing the reeking blade, he made his way to the gate and 
hastened to the camp. 

Icilius meantime harangued the people over the corpse of Virginia ; 
Appius, aided by the young patricians, attempted to seize him and 
put him into prison, but Valerius and Horatius, members of two of 
the noblest and most ancient families in Rome, appeared on the side 
of the people, and Appius was obliged to seek refuge in one of the 
adjacent houses. His colleague Oppius called the senate together, 
but it would come to no decision. Some of the patricians then went 
off to the camp to try to keep the army in its duty ; but all their 
hopes were vain ; for when Virginius arrived and told his story, the 
soldiers plucked up their standards, and, marching for the city, posted 
themselves on the Aventine. Deputies came from the senate, but 
they were told to send Valerius and Horatius if they wanted an answer. 
The army then resolved to go and occupy the Sacred Mount. They 
marched through the city unopposed, and encamped on that celebrated 
spot, the Runnymead of Roman history ; and they there were joined 
by the other army. Valerius and Horatius soon arrived as envoys 
from the senate ; and the people had such reliance on the justice and 
honour of these tAvo worthy men, that they left to them the arrange- 
ment of the whole matter. It was agreed that the decemvirs should 
lay down their office and account for their public conduct. The peo- 
ple then returned to the city. 

Vengeance for Virginia was now to be exacted. Her father sum-* 
moned Appius, and Claudius, the agent of his meditated crime, to stand 
their trial before the people. Instead of seeking safety in flight, the 
haughty decemvir appeared as usual in the forum surrounded by the 
patrician youth. Virginius, who was a tribune, ordered him to be 
seized and cast into prison ; he appealed to the other tribunes, but 
they would not interfere, and he was dragged away by the officers. 
lie died in prison, by his own hand, before the day of trial came. The 
same was the fate of his colleague Oppius ; the other decemvirs were 
suffered to go into exile, as also was Claudius, when he had been tried 
and found guilty. The tribunes then declared prosecution to be at 
an end ; and «< the spirit of Virginia," says the historian, " more happy 
in her death than in her life, having roamed through so many houses 
exacting vengeance, rested at length where no guilty person remained." 





TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS. 

B. c. 383. 

HE Gauls were the inhabitants of the country now called 
France. They were in a very barbarous state, and were 
unacquainted with the luxuries of the south, till, as we 
are told, a citizen of Clusium, whose wife had been se- 
duced by a young nobleman, being refused all satisfaction 
by the nobility, resolved to try to induce the Gauls to 
enter Italy. He loaded mules with wine and oil, and 
with mats filled with dried figs, and crossed the Alps. The rude Gauls, 
to whom such delicacies were unknown, were eager to possess them ; 
and when he told them that they might easily make themselves mas- 
ters of the country that produced them, the whole people arose, and 
with wives and children passed the Alps and the Apennines, and laid 
siege to Clusium. 

The Romans sent three of the noble family of the Fabii as ambas- 
sadors to the Gauls, requiring them not to molest the allies of Rome; 
but the Gauls replied that they wanted land, and that the Clusians 
must divide theirs with them. Instead of returning home, the Fabii 
went into the town, and they even joined in a sally ; and one of them, 
having slain a Gaulish chief, was recognised as he was stripping him 

219 



220 TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS. 



of his armour. Brennus, the Gaulish king, instantly ordered a retreat 
to be sounded, and he despatched some of hishugcst warriors to Rome 
to demand satisfaction for this breach of the law of nations. The 
senate was inclined to surrender the Fabii to the Gauls, but the peo- 
ple would not consent. Brennus immediately directed his march for 
Rome ; his troops on their way did no injury to the husbandman ; 
they passed the towns and villages as if they were friends ; they 
crossed the Tiber, and on the banks of the Alia, about eleven miles 
from Rome, they encountered the Roman legions. 

They would have found the Romans unprepared, it is said, were it 
not, that one night, as a man was going along by the foot of the Pa- 
latine hill, he heard a voice, more than human, calling him by his 
name. He turned, but could see nothing ; he then again heard the 
voice desiring him to go in the morning and tell the magistrates that 
the Gauls were coming. He obeyed, and preparations were then made 
to meet the approaching foe. 

On the 16th of July, a day rendered ominous by the defeat of the 
Fabii at the Cremera, the Roman army gave battle to the Gauls. 
Their best troops were placed on the left, close to the Tiber ; the 
right wing was composed of new-raised men. Brennus fell on these 
last, and speedily routed them : he then brought his whole force 
against the left wing, which, seeing itself so greatly outnumbered, 
broke and made for the river. The Gauls attacked them on all sides ; 
many were slain and drowned, the remainder fled to Veil. Those 
who had escaped on the right carried the news of the defeat to Rome, 
and before nightfall the Gaulish horse appeared on the Field of Mars. 
But no attempt was made on the city, and the Gauls devoted the whole 
of the next day and night to rioting and drunkenness. 

The Romans, seeing that it would not be possible for them to 
defend the city, resolved to abandon it. As the Capitoline hill was 
very steep, and would contain about a thousand men, they collected 
provisions for that number on it, who were to remain for its defence : 
all the rest departed to seek refuge where best they could hope to 
obtain it. A part of the sacred things were buried ; the vestals and 
some of the priests set out with the remainder for the town of Caere 
in Etruria. As they were ascending the Janiculan hill on the other 
side of the Tiber, a man, who was driving his wife and children in his 
cart, was shocked at seeing the holy virgins trudging on foot, and he 
made his family get down and give place to them ; and he then con- 
veyed them in safety to Caere. 

But there were about eighty old patricians, who had borne the 
highest offices in the state, and who would not survive that Rome 



TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS. 221 



which had been the scene of all their glory. They put on their robes 
of state, and they sat calmly awaiting their doom on their ivory chairs 
of office in the forum. The Gauls, meantime, marking the stillness 
that prevailed in the city, were apprehensive of an ambush ; but they 
at length broke open one of the gates and entered. No one was to 
be seen ; silence reigned around : they advanced till they reached the 
forum. On the capitol above they beheld armed men ; beneath, in 
the forum, sat the aged senators, like beings of another world. They 
were filled with awe, and paused. At length one of the Gauls put forth 
his hand, and stroked the long white beard of one of the senators. 
The indignant old man raised his ivory sceptre, and smote him on the 
head : the Gaul drew his sword and killed him, and all the rest were 
then slaughtered. The Gauls spread all over the city in search of 
plunder; they set fire to it in various parts, and soon Rome was 
nothing but a heap of ruins. They made various attempts to force 
their way up the capitol, but they were always repulsed with loss. 

While the Gauls were thus masters of Rome, those who had fled to 
Veii had gained some successes against the Tuscans, who had taken 
advantage of their distress. As it was necessary to communicate 
with the consuls and the senate, who were on the capitol, a gallant 
youth one night swam down the river on corks, and, eluding the Gallic 
sentinels, clambered up the side of the capitol, and having received 
his instructions, returned by the way that he came. But next day 
the Gauls took notice of a bush that had given way as he grasped it, 
and they also observed that the grass was trodden down in various 
places ; they thence concluded that as some one had climbed up, they 
might be able to ascend it themselves. Accordingly, at midnight a 
chosen party came to that place, and began to ascend in dead silence. 
They advanced slowly and cautiously ; no noise was made ; the Ro- 
mans, even the sentinels, were buried in sleep ; the watchful dogs 
heard no sound and gave no alarm. The foremost Gaul had reached 
the summit, when some geese that were kept at the temple of Juno, 
as sacred to the goddess, began to flutter and scream. The noise 
awoke a patrician named Manlius ; he started up, ran out, and seeing 
the Gaul, pushed him down the hill. The Gaul, falling on his com- 
rades, threw them also down, and the project thus miscarried. 

But the famine was now very great on the capitol, and the men 
had been obliged to eat the leather of their shields, and even the 
soles of their shoes. The Gauls, on their part, were anxious to go 
away ; and it was agreed that they should depart on receiving one 
thousand pounds weight of gold ; but when the gold was being 
weighed out, Brennus used false weights ; and when the Romans 



222 



TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS. 



complained, he flung his sword into the scale, crying, " Wo to the 
vanquished I" But just then Camillus, who had been appointed dic- 
tator, entered the forum at the head of his troops. He ordered the 
gold to be taken away ; the Gauls pleaded the treaty : he replied 
that it was not valid, being made without the knowledge of the dic- 
tator. From words they came to blows, and a battle was fought on 
the ruins of Rome. The Gauls were routed with great slaughter ; 
and in a second battle on the road to Gabii, the remainder of their 
army was cut to pieces, and Camillus led Brennus captive in his 
triumph. 




Camillus. 




CARTHAGE. 




HE Carthaginians were indebted to the Tyrians, 
not only for their origin, but also for their man- 
ners, language, customs, laws, religion, and ap- 
plication to commerce. They spoke the same 
language as the Tyrians, and these the same as 
the Canaanites. If it were not the Hebrew, it was at least a language 
entirely derived from it, for many of the characters were Hebrew. 
The word Poeni, from which Punic is derived, is the same with Phoeni, 
or Phoenicians, because they came originally from Phoenicia. This 
accounts for the strict union which always subsisted between the 
Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. 

When Cambyses had resolved to make war upon the latter, the 
Phoenicians, who formed the chief strength of his fleet, told him 
plainly, that they could not serve him against their countrymen ; and 
this declaration obliged that prince to lay aside his design. The 
Carthaginians were never forgetful of the country from whence they 
came, and to which they owed their origin. They sent regularly 
every year to Tyre a ship freighted with presents, as a quit-rent paid 
to their ancient country ; and its tutelary gods had an annual sacrifice 
offered to them by the Carthaginians, who considered them as their 
protectors. They sent thither the first-fruits of their revenues and a 
tithe of the spoils taken from their enemies, as offerings for Hercules, 
one of the principal gods of Tyre and Carthage ; and when Alexander 
was besieging Tyre, the Tyrians sent away their wives and children 
to Carthage, where they were received and entertained with kindness 
and generosity. 

It appears, from several passages in the history of Carthage, that 

223 



224 CARTHAGE. 



its generals began and ended all their enterprises with the worship of 
the gods. Hamilcar, father of the great Hannibal, before he entered 
Spain, offered up a sacrifice to the gods ; and his son, treading in his 
steps, before he left Spain and marched against Rome, went to Cadery, 
to pay the vows he had made to Hercules. This religious homage 
was not the ambition of particular persons only, but of the whole 
nation. Polybius has transmitted to us a treaty of peace concluded 
by Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon, and the Carthaginians, 
in which the respect and veneration of the latter for the deity, and 
their persuasion that the gods preside over human affairs, are strongly 
displayed. 

The government of Carthage was founded upon principles of con- 
summate wisdom. Aristotle ranks this republic among those held in 
the greatest esteem by the ancients. He remarks, that from its foun- 
dation to his time, (upwards of 500 years,) no considerable sedition 
had disturbed the peace, nor any tyrant oppressed the liberty of Car- 
thage. The government united three different authorities ; these 
authorities were that of the two supreme magistrates, called Suffetes, — 
that of the senate, — and that of the people. Then, afterward, the 
tribunal of One hundred, which had great influence on the republic. 
The power of the suffetes was only annual, and their authority in 
Carthage answered to that of consuls at Rome. The senate was com- 
posed of persons venerable for age, experience, birth, riches, or merit. 
When the votes were unanimous, the senate decided supremely, and 
there lay no appeal from it ; but when there was a division, the power 
of deciding devolved on the people. 

Tbe trade of Carthage was its predominant characteristic. The 
power, the conquests, the credit and glory of the Carthaginians, all 
flowed from their trade. Situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 
and stretching their arms both eastward and westward, the extent of 
their commerce embraced the known world. From Egypt they brought 
fine flax, papyrus, corn, and sails and cables for ships ; from the coasts 
of the Red Sea, spices, frankincense, perfumes, gold, pearls, and pre- 
cious stones. From Tyre and Phoenicia, purple and scarlet, rich stuffs, 
costly furniture, and divers curious and artificial works. From the 
western world, for the commodities carried thither, they brought iron, 
tin, lead, and copper. They thus enriched themselves at the expense 
of all nations, and became for a time lords of the sea. The most con- 
siderable personages of the city were not ashamed to trade. They 
made settlements on the coast of Spain, and, some time after. New 
Carthage gave the Carthaginians an empire in that country almost 
equal to that which they enjoyed in Africa. 



CAKTHAGE. 225 



The history of the Carthaginians, from the foundation of Carthage 
to its ruin, included about seven hundred years, and may be divided 
into two parts : the first extends to the Punic war ; the second, to the 
destruction of the state. Carthage, in Africa, was a colony from 
Tyre, the most renowned city for commerce in the world. Tyre had 
long before transplanted another colony into that country, which built 
Utica, made famous by the death of the second Cato, who for this 
reason is generally called Cato Uticensis. The foundation of Car- 
thage may be fixed about the year of the world 3158, when Joash was 
king of Judah ; seventy-nine years before the building of Rome, and 
eight hundred and forty-six before the birth of Christ. 

It is ascribed to Elisa, a Tyrian princess, better known by the 
name of Dido. Ithobal, or Ethbaal, king of Tyre, and father of the 
noted Jezebel, was her great-grandfather. She married her near 
relation, Acerbas, called also Sicharbas and Sichgeus, an extremely 
rich prince ; and Pygmalion, king of Tyre, was her brother. This 
prince having put Sichoeus to death, that he might possess his im- 
mense treasures. Dido eluded the cruel avarice of her brother by 
withdrawing secretly, with all her dead husband's possessions. She 
landed on the coast of Africa, on the gulf where Utica stood, and 
there settled with her followers, after having purchased some lands 
from the inhabitants of the country. Dido, welcomed by the natives 
of the country, was induced to build her city, which she named Car- 
thada, a name that, in the Phoenician or Hebrew tongue, signifies 
"new city." It is said that, while the foundations were digging, a 
horse's head was found, which was thought to be a good omen, and a 
presage of the future warlike genius of the people. 

The dominions of Carthage were not long confined to Africa. The 
inhabitants extended their conquests into Europe, by invading Sar- 
dinia, seizing a great part of Sicily, reducing almost all Spain, and, 
having sent powerful colonies everywhere, they enjoyed the empire 
of the seas for more than six hundred years ; and formed a state 
which was able to dispute pre-eminence with the greatest empires of 
the world, by their wealth, their commerce, their numerous armies, 
their formidable fleets, and, above all, by the courage and abilities 
of their captains. 



15 




FIRST PUNIC WAR. 




FTER Carthage had spread her dominion 
over a great part of Africa, it carried on a 
large and lucrative trade with various parts, 
such as Spain and Sicily. It was on account 
of their settlements and conquests in this last 
island, that the Carthaginians became in- 
volved in w'ar with the Romans. The wars 
between them are called Punic, because the 
Romans termed the Carthaginians Poeni, on 
account of their Phoenician origin. 
The following was the first occasion of war, (b. c. 264.) A Sicilian 
prince had in his pay a body of Italian soldiers : after his death they 
were disbanded, and they set out on their return to Italy ; but on 
their way they surprised the town of Messana, where they massacred 
the men, and divided the women, children, and property among them- 
selves. Being hard pressed by the Sicilians, who sought to punish 
them for their treachery, they looked abroad for aid ; and while part 
of them applied to Hanno, a Carthaginian admiral, and put the cita- 
del into his hands, others sent off to Rome imploring assistance on 
account of their Italian blood. 

The senate at Rome was in great perplexity, for they had lately 
most severely punished one of their own legions for the very crime of 
which these men had been guilty ; at the same time they wished to 
prevent the Carthaginians from getting Messana into their hands. 
Unable to come to a decision, they left the whole matter to the people, 
who, as usual, little troubled by scruples about justice or honour, voted 
at once that the required aid should be given. 

The Romans had as yet never crossed the sea, and their navy was 

226 



FIRST PUNIC WAR. 



227 




very insignificant ; it was therefore no easy matter for them to get 
their troops over to Sicily. As the strait, however, between it and 
Italy is narrow, the consul managed, by taking advantage of the 
night, to put his legions across, and he then defeated the Carthagi- 
nians, and the Romans soon became masters of a great part of the 
island ; but they could not venture to meet their rivals on the sea, 
and the Carthaginians therefore ravaged the coast of Italy at their 
pleasure. 

The Romans, who were never daunted by difficulties, were resolved 
to have a fleet ; but unless they could build ships of equal size with 
those of the enemy, they had little chance of success, and for this 
they had no model. Fortune here, however, stood their friend as 
usual : a Carthaginian ship of war happened to be cast away on the 
coast of Italy, and Avith this for a model, in the space of sixty days 
from the time that the timber for them was cut, they had a fleet of 
one hundred and thirty ships afloat. 

As the ancient ships of war were what are called galleys, that is, 
vessels impelled by oars, the Romans caused those whom they intend- 
ed for rowers to practise their art seated on benches erected on the 
land, while the ships were in preparation ; and by the time they were 
completed, the rowers were able to handle their oars with some dex- 
terity. Still, aware of their own inferiority as sailors, they deemed 



228 FIRST PUNIC WAR. 

some other expedient needful, and they devised a grappling engine 
of the following kind : In the forepart of each ship they set up a mast 
four-and-twenty feet high, with a pulley-wheel at its top ; they then 
made what may be called a ladder, six-and-thirty feet long and four 
broad, which had a hole at about a third of its length, through which 
the mast passed ; at its further extremity was an iron ring, from which 
a rope w^ent through the pulley at the top of the mast, by which the 
ladder might be raised or lowered. The ladder had also at its end 
a long iron spike, and it was boarded on each side to the height of a 
man's knee. This machine was called a corvus, or crow, and it was 
to be used in the following manner : when one of the Roman ships 
got close to one of the enemy's, she was to let her crow fall on the 
enemy's deck, which the spike would enter, and thus hold her fast. 
The Roman soldiers then, holding their shields before or beside them, 
and having their legs protected by the side-boards of the ladder, would 
pass along it, and thus board the enemy's ship. 

When all was prepared, the consul Duillius put to sea. The Car- 
thaginians were at first surprised by the uncouth appearance which 
the Roman ships presented with their odd-looking crows ; but they 
did not hesitate, notwithstanding, to attack them. The result was, 
however, quite contrary to their expectation, for every ship that the 
crows caught was taken, and they were finally defeated with great 
loss. This first naval victory caused immense joy at Rome ; the 
consul Duillius triumphed for it, and he was permitted, for the rest 
of his life, to have a torch-bearer and a flute-player to go before him 
at night Avhen he was returning home from supper anyAvhere, (b. c. 260.) 

The Romans now resolved, instead of confining the contest to Sicily, 
to invade Africa and attack Carthage itself. They therefore assembled 
a large fleet, carrying forty thousand soldiers, besides the sailors and 
rowers, and it set sail for Africa in four squadrons, under the command 
of the consuls Regulus and Manilas, in the following order : The two 
ships of the consuls sailed side by side ; each was followed by a squad- 
ron sailing in a single line, each ship keeping further out to sea than 
the one before it, thus forming the two sides of a triangle ; the ships 
of the third squadron, sailing abreast, formed the base or remaining 
side of the triangle ; and the fourth squadron brought up the rear, 
sailing in a line parallel to the third. A large Punic fleet attacked 
it on its passage, and destroyed four-and-twenty of the ships, but it 
was beaten off with considerable loss. The Romans found it neces- 
sary to return to Sicily to repair, and to refresh their crews ; and 
when they again put to sea, the enemy did not venture to meet them, 
and the troops were landed at no great distance from Carthage. 



FIRST PUNIC WAR. 231 



The Carthaginians were, as we have already observed, greatly 
devoted to trade, and -where that is the case, it will always be found 
that agriculture is carried to a high degree of perfection, and that 
the land in particular adjoining to the towns, where the wealthy mer- 
chants reside, is cultivated like a garden. So it is in England and 
Holland, and so it was at Carthage. The whole country, from the 
place where the Romans landed to the capital, was one garden, full 
of corn, cattle, vines, figs, fruit of all kinds, and covered all over with 
the elegant country-seats of the opulent citizens of Carthage. In a 
few days the Romans, who thought only of plunder and devastation, 
had turned the whole of this lovely region into a desert, and the Car- 
thaginians, having no regular troops, did not venture to defend their 
property. 

After a duration of twenty-four years, the first Punic war was ter- 
minated by a naval victory gained by the Romans. The consul Luta- 
tius, having put to sea with a fleet of two hundred ships, blockaded 
one of the Punic towns on the coast of Sicily. The Carthaginians 
immediately got ready all their ships of war, and lading them with 
corn and other stores, directed their admiral, Hanno, to sail over to 
Sicily, where Hamilcar, their ablest general, then was, and, having 
landed the stores, to take Hamilcar and his best troops on board, and 
then to engage the Romans. Hanno sailed straight to the ^gatian 
isles, off Cape Lilyboeum, in Sicily, and Lutatius, who was not far off, 
and who seems to have learned the plan of the Carthaginians, resolved 
to give him battle at once. Accordingly, next morning, though the 
sea was rough and the wind favourable to the enemy, he put to sea, 
and succeeded in bringing on an engagement. As the Punic ships 
were heavily laden, and they had not Hamilcar's troops on board, they 
were totally unable to contend with those of the Romans, and the con- 
sequence was a total defeat. The resources of Carthage were now 
quite exhausted, and she was forced to sue for peace, which was 
granted on the conditions of her giving up all claim to Sicily, and 
paying the Romans a large sum of money. 




Hannibal. 



SECOND AND THIRD PUNIC WARS. 




HE siege and conquest of Saguntum, a city in alliance 
with the Romans, gave birth to the second Punic war. 
Hannibal, already famous for his brilliant success in 
Spain, who had from his infancy been taught to regard 
the Romans with detestation, and had taken an oath 
of eternal enmity against them, advanced towards Italy at the head 
of an army ; crossed the Rhone ; traversed the Alps in the midst of 
■winter ; defeated Scipio on the banks of the Vesin ; was conqueror 
at Trebia, Thrasymenus, and Cannoe ; and filled Rome itself Vvith 
alarm. The pleasures of Capua, it is said, where he had the impru- 
dence to winter, saved Rome from destruction. It gave the Romans 
time to recover from the consternation which his rapid progress had 
occasioned ; they collected all their force, and rose more terrible than 

i!32 



SECOND AND THIRD PUNIC WARS. 



233 




The oath of Hannihal 



ever, by their constancy, their discipline, their courage, and their 
policy. 

Their numerous victories astonished Spain and Sicily. They declared 
war against Philip, the ally of Carthage ; took Syracuse, Agrigentum, 
and Capua ; defeated Asdrubal ; and all Spain submitted to the 
younger Scipio. This general Avent into Africa, and, by his successes, 
obliged Hannibal to quit Europe, and return home. The interview 
between these two great generals hastened the battle of Zama, where 
every manoeuvre in the art of war was displayed. Scipio was the 
conqueror, and the Roman senate dictated the conditions of peace. 
This victory augmented the already immoderate ambition of Rome, 
which threatened with slavery the whole of the then known world. 

Hannibal, after having passed some time at the court of Antiochus, 
king of Syria, whom he had engaged to declare war against the Ro- 
mans, returned to Bithynia ; but fearing that he should be delivered 
up to his inveterate enemy, he put an end to his existence by poison. 

The war with Philip, king of Macedon, and afterwards with Perseus, 
his son, was a remarkable epoch. Philip, after having suffered great 
loss, made peace with the Romans ; but Perseus, with a view of reco- 
vering back what his father had lost, renewed a war which deprived 
him both of his liberty and life, and reduced his kingdom to a Roman 
province. Antiochus, king of Syria, who had declared war against 



234 SECOND AND THIRD PUNIC WARS. 




The death, of Hannibal. 

the Romans in compliance witli the wishes of Hannibal, was likewise 
obliged, in order to obtain peace, to cede all the country he possessed 
on the western side of Mount Taurus. 

The Romans beheld with pain the existence of Carthage, and eagerly 
sought an occasion to commence hostilities. An opportunity soon pre- 
sented itself. The Carthaginians being at Avar with Massinissa, king 
of Numidia, the Romans armed in his favour, and sent a strong force 
against Carthage itself. The Carthaginians defended themselves cou- 
rageously ; but the Roman commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio, 
becoming master of it, reduced it to ashes, and carried with him its 
riches to Rome. Thus ended the third Punic war ; and thus fell Car- 
thage, the ancient and powerful rival of Rome, b. c. 147. 




Scipio Africanus. 



SIEGE OF NUMANTIA. 

B.C. 133. 

CIPIO AFRICANUS, who received his 
second name from his great campaign, 
which terminated in the destruction of 
Carthage, was the Roman general who 
conducted the famous siege of Numantia 
in Spain. Numantia was strong by 
nature, being built on a hill, which was 
nearly surrounded by the river Douro 
and another stream, and though it con- 
tained only eight thousand fighting men, 
they were all first-rate soldiers. The consequence was, that for many 
years the Romans were able to efi"ect nothing against them, and on 
one occasion a Roman army of twenty thousand men only escaped 
destruction by its general concluding an honourable peace with the 
Numantines. But the senate, acting as usual, refused to ratify the 
peace, and as in the similar case at the Caudine Forks, they ordered 
the general to be delivered up to the Numantines. These, like 
Pontius, refused to receive him, and thus to release the Romans from 
the guilt of breach of faith. 

235 




236 



SIEGE OF NUMANTIA. 




Siege of Numantia. 



It was now resolved to commit the conduct of tlie Numantine war 
to Scipio Africanus, and for that purpose he was made consul a 
second time. When he came to Spain he found the troops in the 
same state as he had found the army in Africa some years before. 
He forthwith gave orders for all needless and improper persons to 
quit the camp ; he directed that all the superfluous wagons and beasts 
of burden should be sold ; forbade the soldiers to use any food but 
plain boiled and roast meat, and made them sleep on the ground, him- 
self setting them the example. He made them march and counter- 
march, dig trenches and fill them up again, build walls and throw 
them down, and when he had thus brought the army into an efficient 
state, he formed two camps close to Numantia, his intention being to 
starve the town into a surrender. He would, therefore, give the Nu- 
mantines no opportunity of fighting ; and he raised ramparts and tow- 
ers on all sides of the town except where it was washed by the Douro. 
To prevent provisions or information being brought in by boats or 
divers, he placed guards on the river above and below the town ; and 
he let long beams of timber, in which wxre fastened swords and darts, 
and attached by ropes to the shore, float along the stream, which, 
being very rapid, kept whirling them round and round, so that nothing 
could pass. 



SIEGE OF NUMANTIA. 



237 

The brave Numanties made several fruitless attacks on the works 
of the Romans. At length, when famine began to be felt, and they 
were quite hopeless of relief, they sent offering to surrender if they 
could obtain moderate terms. Scipio insisted on unconditional sur- 
render, and to this they would not yet submit. But the famine grew 
sorer every day, and they ate leather and various nauseous substances, 
and even, it is said, began to feed on human flesh. They then, at 
last, according to one account, surrendered at discretion, while another 
says that they burned all their arms and property, and then destroyed 
themselves, and that Scipio took only the empty town. 





ifaM^M^a^^ls-^^a^S 




ADVENTURES OF MARIUS. 

[NHEARD of atrocities were practised during 
the civil wars between Sulla and Marius. They 
commenced on the occasion of the Social War. 
It was named the Social War, because it was 
carried on by the allies (in Latin Socii) against 
the Romans. The cause of it was the refusal 
to grant them the rights of citizenship, which 
had been promised them by Gracchus. It lasted 
for two years, and, after costing an immensity of blood, was ended by 
granting them all that they sought. 

Sulla distinguished himself so much in the Social War, that he was 
made consul, and appointed to conduct the war in Asia, where a 
powerful monarch, named Mithridates, had caused eighty thousand 
Romans to be massacred, and seemed resolved to drive the Romans 
out of Asia. But Marius, who had been already six times consul, and 
was now advanced in years, was jealous of Sulla, and anxious to get 
the command for himself; and by means of a tribune named Sulpicius, 
he got the people to transfer to him the task of conducting the Mith- 
ridatic war. 

238 



ADVENTURES OF MARIUS. 239 



When Sulla, who was at Capua, informed his troops of what had 
occurred, they became furious, and insisted on his leading them to 
Rome. He entered the city at their head. Marius and Sulpicius, 
unable to resist him, were forced to fly, and Sulla remained absolute 
master of the city, being the first Roman who ha(J ever entered it at 
the head of an army. 

Sulpicius was betrayed by one of his slaves, and was immediately 
put to death ; Marius escaped to Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, 
where one of his friends had provided a ship for him. He got on 
board, but a storm soon after obliged him to land on another part of 
the coast ; and while he and his companions were wandering about, 
some herdsmen, who knew him, informed him that a party of horse 
was there in quest of him. They concealed themselves in a wood, 
where they passed the night without food. Next morning they con- 
tinued their flight along the coast, when, happening to look round, 
they saw some horsemen pursuing them ; they instantly hastened and 
got on board of two vessels that were luckily lying close to the shore ; 
the horsemen came and required the mariners to give up Marius, but 
they were moved by his entreaties, and sailed away. Afterward, 
reflecting on the risk they ran, they persuaded him to land at the 
mouth of the river Liris to get food and repose ; and while he was 
taking a sleep in the grass they departed, leaving him to his fate. 

On awaking, Marius rambled about the marshes till he came to the 
solitary hut of an old man, whose compassion he implored. The old 
man led him away into the marsh, and, making him lie down in a 
hollow spot, covered him with sedge and rushes. He then left him ; 
and soon after Marius heard at the hut the voices of those who were 
in pursuit of him. Fearing that the old man would betray him, he 
stripped himself and went and stood up to his neck in the mud and 
water of the marsh ; but he was discovered there, and dragged, naked 
as he was, to the nearest town. He was there placed in confinement ; 
and the magistrates of the place, having consulted, resolved to put him 
to death. They sent a Cimbrian slave to despatch him. The Cim- 
brian, when he approached the spot where Marius was lying in a dark 
room, was daunted by the fiery glare of the old warrior's eyes ; and 
when he rose and cried with a tremendous voice, " Dost thou dare to 
slay Caius Marius?" he rushed out, crying, "I cannot kill Caius 
Marius." The magistrates then resolved not to have his blood on 
their heads ; and they put him on board a vessel, in which he passed 
over to Africa. He landed at Carthage, but the governor of the pro- 
vince sent, ordering him to depart. He sat in silence, looking sternly 
at the messenger ; and, on his asking what answer he should make to 



240 



ADVENTUKES OF MARIUS. 



the governor, he groaned and said, " Tell him you saw Caius Marius 
sitting an exile amid the ruins of Carthage." He then retired to 
an island in the neighbourhood, (b. c. 88.) 

After this, Marius was recalled to Rome by the consul Cinna. The 
city was captured %j their faction, and the friends of Sulla being pro- 
scribed, Marius revenged his past distresses by causing rivers of blood 
to flow in the city. 

Marius, at the end of the year, was made consul for the seventh 
time ; but he died in the first month, while brooding over new projects 
of bloodshed and atrocity, happy in thus escaping the vengeance of 
Sulla. 




Atrium of the House of Pans 
at I'ouipeii. 





CATILINE'S CONSPIRACY. 

B. c. 63. 

ATILINA, or, as we commonly call him Catiline, "who 
was the murderer of his own brother in the time 
of Sulla, was a man of the most abandoned charac- 
ter. He is also charged with taking away the life 
of his own son, and with various other enormities. His 
circumstances were desperate, and he saw no remedy 
for them but in a renewal of the scenes of bloodshed 
and robbery in which he had borne his part in the days of Sulla. 
With this view he entered into a conspiracy with some other men of 
rank and birth, whose aifairs were in the same state as his own. They 
were to exert all their influence to have him made consul, and he was 
then to act as Sulla had done. It is said that they bound themselves 
by a dreadful oath, drinking wine with which human blood was 
mingled. 

Among the conspirators was a man named Curius, who was engaged 
in a love affair with a lady named Fulvia. He had been rather slighted 
by her of late, because he was not able to make her presents on ac- 
count of his poverty ; but now his tone became quite altered : he would 
behave to her with the greatest insolence, and boast of the great wealth 
of which he would soon be possessed. She was curious to know what 
could have caused this change, and she never ceased till she had drawn 

16 241 



242 CATILINE'S CONSPIRACY. 



the secret from him ; she then told her friends what she had learned, 
but without naming her author. 

The nobility, finding that there existed a plot for their destruction, 
grew seriously alarmed. Hitherto they had opposed Cicero the great 
orator in his suit for the consulship, because he was not one of their 
order ; but now, aware that he was the only man able to baffle Catiline, 
they gave him their interest, and he was elected and Catiline rejected. 
Cicero soon, by means of Fulvia, gained over Curius, and he was thus 
informed of all the plans of the conspirators. 

After some time, Catiline, finding all his projects frustrated by the 
vigilance of the consul, left Rome and went to join an army which he 
had caused to be assembled in Tuscany. When going, he charged 
his confederates, Lentulus, Cethegus, and others, to gain over as many 
persons as they could, to murder Cicero and other men of rank, and 
to set fire to the city in different parts, and then to break out and 
join him and his army. 

There happened to be ambassadors at Rome from a people in Gaul 
named the Aliobroges, and Lentulus, thinking it would be of advantage 
to gain over this people, who could supply them witli troops, caused 
application to be made to them. They at first readily agreed ; but 
on thinking more coolly of the matter, they went and told it to one 
of the senators. lie informed Cicero, by whose directions they pre- 
tended a great zeal for the plot, in order to get all the information 
they could. Cicero also directed them to require a letter to their na- 
tion, with the seals of the principal conspirators. 

AVhen they had gotten all they had required, they set out at night 
on their return home. At a bridge over the Tiber, a few miles above 
Rome, they were fallen on and seized by the troops which Cicero had 
placed there in ambush. They were brought back and led before the 
senate, where they told all they knew, and the conspirators who had 
been arrested were forced to acknowledge their seals. Lentulus, who 
was actually prretor at the time, was made to lay down his oflice, and 
all were given into custody to different senators. A few days after, 
when it appeared that Lentulus and Cethegus were exerting them- 
selves to induce the slaves and the rabble to rise and rescue them, 
Cicero laid the matter before the senate, and it was resolved that they 
should be executed as traitors. That very evening Cicero conducted 
Lentulus, Cethegus, and three others to the public prison, and caused 
them to be strangled. 

Cicero's colleague Antonius led an army against Catiline, and the 
rebel and his men fell fighting with a valour worthy of a better 
cause. 




THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE.— CJESAR IN GAUL AND 

BRITAIN. 



•\r>'. 



HERE were at this time in Rome three eminent 
/men : namely, Pompey, a popular general ; Cras- 
sus, the conqueror of Spartacus and the richest 
man in Italy; and Julius Ciesar, who in talents 
1 far exceeded all others, but whose ambition nothing 
[ could satisfy but the dominion over the whole Ro- 
'man empire. Csesar, being consul, proposed to 
Pompey and Crassus that they three should enter into a secret league 
for their mutual advantage, and thus contrive to govern the state 
without its being known. They agreed, not perceiving that he in- 
tended them to be nothing more than his tools, and their association 
was named a triumvirate, as they were three in number. To strength- 
en their union, Ceesar gave his daughter Julia, a most amiable and 
beautiful young lady, in marriage to Pompey, though he was an older 
man than himself; yet Julia loved him most devotedly, for Pompey 
was the kindest and most affectionate of husbands. 

After the expiration of his consulship, Csesar obtained the govern- 
ment of the Roman province in Gaul, and in the course of eight or 
nine years he conquered the whole of that country. He crossed the 
Rhine and invaded Germany, and he even ventured to land his legions 
in the isle of Britain, which the Romans considered as lying without 
the limits of the habitable world. Ceesar embarked at midnight at 
the place now called Boulogne, and at nine next morning he reached 
Dover ; but as the cliffs were guarded by Britons, he sailed on to 
Deal, where he landed in the evening. He did not advance far into 
the country ; but the next year he returned, and having defeated the 
Britons, he crossed the Thames near Hampton Court, and advanced 
into Middlesex and took the chief town of the people named the Trino- 
bantians ; but his affairs did not permit hipa to remain in Britain, and 
his conquest of it therefore was merely nominal. 

While Csesar was engaged in the conquest of Gaul, Crassus was 
urged by his avarice to attempt the conquest of the East, in which 
he was defeated and lost his life. 



243 




Julius Csesar. 




WAR BETWEEN POMPEY AND C^SAR. 

B. c. 49. 

HE death of Crassus put an end to the triumvirate ; 
Julia was also dead, and there remained nothing to 
check the ambition of Pompey and Coesar, of whom 
the former could not bear an equal, nor the latter a 
superior. Coesar was now at the head of a veteran 
army, trained in the Gallic wars, and entirely devoted 
to him ; and he refused to disband it unless he were 
made consul again : to this the senate and Pompey refused to consent, 
and he resolved to appeal to arms. 

From the time that the Gauls had crossed the Alps and made them- 
selves masters of the north of Italy, that country had been named 
Gaul. It was called Cisalpine Gaul, that is, Gaul on this side of the 
Alps, to distinguish it from the original Gaul beyond those mountains. 
The boundary between it and Italy, properly so called, was a stream 
named the Rubicon, and any general who passed the Rubicon in arms 
was held to be an enemy to his country. CoDsar was at Ravenna, in 
Cisalpine Gaul, when he heard of the proceedings against him at 
Rome. He assembled his soldiers and made his complaint to them ; 

2U 



WAR BETWEEN POMPEY AND CiESAR. 



247 




Coesar crossing the Eubicon. 



they assured him of their fidelity, and he sent them on toward Italy. 
As for himself he passed the day in viewing the exercises of the gla- 
diators, and in the evening he sat down to dinner as usual. When it 
grew dark he rose and went out, telling the company that he would 
return presently ; but he mounted a hired horse, and set off after his 
troops. On coming to the Rubicon he halted, and pondered on the 
consequences of the step he was about to take. After consulting some 
time with his friends, he cried, " Let the die be cast !" and he crossed 
the bridge. His troops followed, and he took possession of the town 
of Rimini. 

The towns and troops everywhere submitted to Caesar. Pompey, 
who, in his self-confidence, had said that wherever he should stamp 
with his foot legions would rise up, found himself wofully deceived in 
his expectations ; and he was obliged to quit Italy and pass over to 
Greece, in the hope of being able to carry on the war with the aid of 
the princes of the East. Caesar then resolved to proceed to Spain, 
where Pompey's lieutenants, Afranius and Petreius, were at the head 
of an army. He previously went to Rome, where he seized all the 
money that was in the treasury. In this act he was opposed by one 



248 



WAR BETWEEN POMPEY AND CiESAR. 




of the tribunes ; but he laid his hand on his sword, and threatened to 
kill him ; and "know, young man," added he, " that this is easier to 
do than to say." 

In Spain he found Afranius and Petreius encamped on an eminence 
between two rivers, at the modern city of Lerida. After a variety of 
actions and manoeuvres, they found it necessary to quit that position, 
and march for the river Ebro ; but Ctesar, by his celerity, got between 
them and that river, and forced them to encamp on a hill, round which 
he drew lines, and cut them off from water and forage, so that at last 
they were obliged to surrender. He only required them to disband 
their troops and quit Spain, and he himself returned to Rome, where 
he was made dictator. 

Csesar now prepared to follow Pompey to Greece. Though the 
latter had a great fleet in the Adriatic Sea, Ciesar, whose shipping 
was but trifling, contrived to get across, with a part of his troops, to 
Epirus, and he then sent the ships back for the remainder. But 
Pompey's commanders were now on the alert, and they could not 
venture to stir. Cnssar then resolved to run all risks, and go himself 
to fetch them. One night he disguised himself as a slave, and em- 
barked in a fishing-boat on the river near his camp ; but, when the 
boat had reached the mouth of the river, the sea proved so rough and 
stormy, that the boatmen, after making an attempt to go out, put back. 
Coesar then discovered himself to the master, saying, <« Why dost thou 



WAR BETWEEN POMPEY AND C^SAR. 



249 




Battle of Tharsalia. 



fear ? thou carriest Cassar !" They then made another attempt, but 
the storm was so great, that he was obliged to let them return. 

The troops, however, soon got over and joined him. Porapey, who 
had arrived with his army to oppose him, having gained the advantage 
in an action which occurred, Cassar resolved to quit the coast, and he 
set out for Thessaly, followed closely by Pompey. They both entered 
that country about the same time, and they encamped opposite each 
other, near the town of Pharsalia. 

Pompey's infantry, without reckoning the light troops, was double 
that of CcTssar in number, and his cavalry was seven times as nume- 
rous as his ; but Cassar's men were veterans, while Pompey's were 
mostly recruits. Aware of the inferiority of his troops in quality, 
Pompey wished to avoid an action ; but he w^as not, like his rival, a 
free agent, for he was controlled by the senators, who were in his 
camp, and who, confident of victory, insisted on his giving battle. 
Caesar, weary of delay, was one day preparing to decamp, when, to 
his surprise and joy, he saw Pompey's army drawn up in battle array 
at the foot of the hill on which their camp lay. As it was on his 
cavalry that Pompey chiefly relied, Caesar mixed some of his most 
active foot-soldiers through his own cavalry, and he placed a part of 
his troops in reserve, with directions to fall on the enemy's horse 
when they should see them engaged, and to be sure to strike at their 
faces. This stratagem succeeded: the handsome young horsemen, 
more solicitous about their beauty than about their honour and repu- 



250 



WAR BETWEEN POMPEY AND CESAR. 



tation, turned and fled ; and then these troops falling on the rear of 
Pompey's left wing, where were his best troops, and where he himself 
commanded, threw them into confusion, and they fled to their camp. 
Pompej, seeing the battle lost, retired to his tent ; and when lie 
found that Cresar was attacking his camp, he mounted his horse, and 
left it with about thirty followers. When Ctesar took the camp, he 
found the tents of the principal men hung with ivy, with fresh turfs 
cut for seats, tables covered with phitc, and all the preparations for 
celebrating a victory. In the battle he had cried out to his soldiers 
to spare the blood of their fellow-citizens, but, notwithstanding, a 
great number were slain. All the remainder surrendered, and most 
of them entered his service. 









DEATH OF POMPEY. 




OMPEY rode without halting till he reached 
the romantic vale of Tempo, through which 
the river Peneus leaves Thessaly, and dis- 
charges its waters into the sea. At the 
mouth of that river he found a merchant- 
ship, in which he embarked, and sailed to 
the isle of Lesbos, where he had left his wife 
Cornelia. Having taken her on board, he 
proceeded to the isle of Cyprus, where he 
consulted with his friends as to whether he 
had better seek an asylum with the king of the Parthians, or go to 
Africa, where Juba, king of Numidia, was in arms against Caesar, or 
repair to the young king of Egypt, whose father he had restored to 
his throne. This last course was the one fixed on, and they made sail 
for Egypt. 

On approaching the coast, they saw an army encamped there, 
headed by the king himself, who was at war with his sister Cleopatra. 
When Pompey sent to implore his protection, his ministers held a 
consultation as to what were best to be done, and the conclusion to 
"which they came was, that it would be most for their own interest, 

251 



252 



DEATH OF POMPEY. 



and that of their king, to put him to death, and thus recommend 
themselves to the favour of Ctesar. They accordingly sent Achilles, 
a captain of the guard, with a Roman officer named Septimius, and 
some others, in a small boat to invite him to enter it and land, as the 
shore was too oozy and shallow to allow a ship to approach it. He 
consented, and, followed by two officers and two attendants, having 
embraced Cornelia, he entered the boat, and then turning round, 
repeated two verses of the tragic poet Sophocles. They went on for 
some time in silence ; at length Pompey, turning to Septimius, said, 
" If I mistake not, you and I have been fellow-soldiers," lie nodded 
assent ; the silence was resumed, and Pompey began to read over what 
he had prepared to say to the king. When they reached the shore, 
several of the royal officers were seen coming down to receive him ; 
he took hold of his freedman's arm to rise from his seat. As he was 
rising, Septimius stabbed him in the back ; Achilles and another then 
struck him ; he drew his mantle before his face, groaned, and died in 
silence. A loud cry rose in his ship, which then fled, followed by 
some of the Egyptian vessels. Pompey's head was cut oflF and kept 
as an offering for Ccfisar ; his trunk Avas thrown on the beach, where 
his faithful freedman stayed by it, and having washed it in the sea, 
prepared a pile to burn it from the wreck of a fishing-boat. While 
he was thus engaged, an old Roman, who had served under Pompey, 
came up and joined him in his pious office, saying, " that the honour 
of assisting at the funeral of Rome's greatest general compensated 
him in some measure for the evils of an abode in a foreign land." 





DEATH OF C^SAR. 




^SAR triumphed on his return to Rome to the grief 
of the people, for it was the first triumph ever cele- 
brated for a victory gained over Roman citizens. He 
then began to prepare for making war on the Parthians, 
that, like Alexander the Great, he might become the 
conqueror of the East. But not content to be the abso- 
lute master of the Roman world, he coveted the title as 
well as the power of a king, and he tried in various ways to obtain it 
from the people. Thus, one day, some one placed a diadem and a 
crown of laurel on one of his statues ; two of the tribunes, however, 
put the man into prison, at which the people expressed their joy. 
Cffisar then commended the tribunes, but he took care soon after to 
deprive them of their oflEice. Another time, as he Avas returning to 
Rome from the Alban Mount, some voices in the crowd called him 
king ; but seeing that the people were not pleased, he said aloud, " I 
am Caesar, not king." But the great attempt was reserved for the 

253 



254 



DEATH OF C/ESAR. 




time of the Lupcrcalia, a festival which took place in the month of 
February, in which it was the custom for the Luperci, as the members 
of that religious association were named, to run nearly naked all 
through the city, slashing those Avhom they met with thongs made of 
goatskin. On that day Marcus Antonius, (or, as he is vulgarly called, 
Mark Antony,) Cesar's colleague in the consulship, being one of the 
Luperci, ran up to him as he was sitting in state in the forum, and 
placed a diadem on his head. A few hired voices in the crowd ap- 
plauded ; Cffisar rejected it, and a general shout of approbation was 
raised ; Antony again offered the diadem. Csesar again put it aside, 
and the multitude shouted as before. Cffisar then seeing that the pro- 
ject would not succeed, ordered the diadem to be placed on the statue 
of Jupiter, as being the only king of the Romans. 

It would seem to have been this desire for the royal title that cost 
CiBsar his life. The Romans had an hereditary hatred of the title of 
king, and in the old times there v.-as no surer way to destroy a man 
than to charge him with aiming at it ; there was also an ancient law 
authorizing any one who pleased to kill the man who should attempt 



DEATH OF C^SAK. 



255 




Death of Caesar. 



to make himself a king. A conspiracy, therefore, was formed against 
Cresar, in "which not less than sixty persons were engaged, mostly all 
his own friends, who, though they willingly aided in making him the 
real master of his country, could not endure that he should bear the 
title of King of the Romans. But the two principal conspirators were 
Brutus and Cassius, whom, though they had fought on the side of 
Pompey against him, Caesar had forgiven and had treated with so 
much favour, that they were both of them at the time prcetors at Rome. 
Brutus was the nephew of Cato, to whose daughter Porcia lie was 
married. Cassius had acted under Crassus in his unfortunate war 
against the Parthians. 

The day fixed on for performing the deed was the Ides (that is, the 
15th) of March, when the senate was to be held in the senate-house 
which Pompey had^built in the Field of Mars. It is said that Caesar 
got warning, but that he replied he had lived long enough, and that 
he would sooner die at once by treachery than live in constant appre- 
hension of it. It is also said that a soothsayer named Spurinna had 
•warned him to beware of the Ides of March. 

The fatal day came. Brutus and Cassius in the morning took their 
seats in the forum to administer justice as usual ; they had their dag- 
gers concealed beneath their mantles. The senate assembled, but 



256 



DEATH OF CiESAR. 



Caesar did not appear, for he had been rather unwell, and as his wife 
had had what she deemed ominous dreams, to gratify her he was think- 
ing of not going to the senate that day. But Decimus Brutus, one 
of the conspirators, came to him, and, deriding such fancies, induced 
him to ascend his litter and set out. As they proceeded Spurinna 
met them. "Well," said Csesar, "the Ides of March are come." 
" Yes," replied he ; " but they are not past." A Greek philosopher 
then met him, and handing him a paper containing a full account of 
the plot, bade him read it immediately ; but he took no heed, and 
went into the senate-house with the paper unopened in his hand. When 
he took his seat the conspirators gathered round him ; one of them 
began to plead for the pardon of his brother who was in exile ; the 
others joined in the suit; C?esar appeared annoyed at their importu- 
nity ; one of them then gave the appointed signal by laying hold on his 
mantle and pulUng it oiF his shoulder. "This is violence," cried 
C«3sar. Another then drew his dagger and stabbed him under the 
throat ; he rose and rushed forward, but another and another dagger 
struck him ; then thinking only of dying with dignity, he drew his 
mantle around him, and fell, pierced by three-and-twenty wounds, at 
the foot of Pompey's statue. Brutus was then going to address the 
senators, but they fled out of the house in dismay. 





CiESAR'S FUNERAL. 




S it was uncertain how the people might act, the con- 
spirators retired to the Capitol. The body of Cassar 
was left lying in the senate-house till three of his slaves 
placed it in the litter and carried it home. After some 
time, Antony, as consul, assembled the senate, and 
Cicero proposed an amnesty or act of oblivion, which 
was agreed to, and the conspirators came down from 
the Capitol. It was also agreed that Csesar should 
have a public funeral. 

When Csesar's will was opened, it was found that he had left a sum 
of money to each individual citizen, and had bequeathed to their use 
in general his gardens on the banks of the Tiber. The minds of the 
people being favourably disposed by this intelligence, the funeral took 
place. A small temple adorned with gold was erected in the forum 
in front of the rostra, in which Csesar's body was placed, lying on 
an ivory couch. The mantle which he had on when slain was hung 
over it. Antony, who was to deliver the funeral oration, ascended 
the rostra. Having directed the decrees made by the senate in 
Caesar's honour, and the oaths they had taken to defend his life at the 
hazard of their own, to be read, he proceeded to address the people on 
the conduct of the senate, and, it is said, by pointing to the blood- 



17 



257 



258 



C^SAR S FUNERAL. 



stained mantle, and by enumerating Caesar's benefits to themselves, 
excited them to avenge his death. As the body was to be burnt in 
the Field of Mars, the magistrates and those who had borne office 
under Ccesar advanced to take it up to convey it thither, but the multi- 
tude would not suffer them, some crying that it should be burnt in the 
temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, others in the senate-house where he 
was slain. Suddenly two armed soldiers advanced bearing lighted 
torches, and set fire to the bier. The crowd then broke up the seats 
and threw on every thing else that came to hand to feed the flame ; 
the musicians and pla^^ers flung their dresses, the veterans their arms, 
the women their own and their children's ornaments on the pile, and 
thus was tlie body of the mighty Caesar consumed. 






A Triumphal Chariot. 

THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. 

HE conspirators now found it necessary to leave 
!|\\ the city. Antony, who had obtained possession 
of CjBsar's papers and money, did as he pleased, 
till Caesar's nephew and adopted son and heir, the 
young Octavius, came to Rome to claim his inhe- 
ritance. His uncle's veterans supported him, and 
the senate united with him in the hope of destroy- 
ing Antony. Finding Cj»sar, as we shall henceforth call Octavius, 
too strong for him, Antony quitted Rome and went with his troops to 
Cisalpine Gaul, where he besieged Decimus Brutus, the goveAor of 
tliat province, in the town of Mutina, (now called Modena.) Cresar 
and the two consuls, Ilirtius and Pansa, marched to the relief of 
Brutus, and they defeated Antony, and forced him to fly beyond the 
Alps. Hirtius and Pansa were, however, both slain, and the sole com- 
mand rem.ained with Caesar. 

Cffisar, it is said, claimed the honour of a triumph ; but it was 
refused by the senate. He then, though not twenty years of age, 
demanded the consulship, for which the legitimate age was forty-three! 
For this purpose he sent a deputation of his officers to Rome, and 
when the senate demurred, one of them threw back his cloak, and, 
showing the hilt of his sword, said, " This will make him if you will 
not." Caesar himself soon arrived, and he and his cousin Pedius were 
made the consuls. He forthwith caused a law to be passed for bring- 
ing to trial all that were concerned in his uncle's death. 

259 



260 



THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. 




Antony had joined Lepidus, (b. c. 43,) who commanded in Gaul, 
and they sent secretly to Caesar proposing a union against the repub- 
lican party, by which they would be able to draw all the power of the 
state to themselves. He lent a willing ear to their proposals, and as 
they had now recrossed the Alps, he set out to give them the required 
meeting in the neighbourhood of the modern city of Bologna. The 
appointed place of interview was a small island in a river, within view 
of which each encamped, Csesar on the one side, Antony and Lepidus 
on the other side of the stream. Lepidus first entered the island alone 
to examine it, and, on his giving the signal that all was safe, the others 
advanced and passed over from the opposite banks by bridges, the 
guard of each of which was committed to three hundred men. They 
first searched each other to see that they had no concealed weapons 
about them, and then sat in conference for three days. They agreed 



THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. 



261 



that under the title of Triumvirs thej should jointly hold the supreme 
power for five years, and appoint to all public offices ; that Ctesar and 
Antony should prosecute the war against Brutus and Cassius, and 
that, at the end of the war, eighteen of the best towns in Italy, with 
their lands, should be taken from their owners and given to the 
soldiers. They then, like Sulla, proceeded to draw up a proscription 
list containing the names of a great number of senators and knights 
distinguished for their political opinions or for their wealth, in which 
list were included the brother of Lepidus and the uncle of Antony. 
They immediately sent off some soldiers to murder seventeen of the 
most obnoxious persons in the list, and the tumult made by them in 
searching after these unhappy persons threw the city into such con- 
sternation, that the consul Pedius died in consequence of the exertions 
he found it necessary to make in order to quiet the alarm of the people. 





Augustus Csesar. 



BATTLE OF PHILIPPI— ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 




jHEN the triumvirs had satiated themselves with blood 
and robbery, Antony and Cresar passed over with an 
army to Macedonia t» engage Brutus and Cassius, who 
were at the head of a considerable force in that coun- 
try, having collected men and money in Asia. It is 
said, that as Brutus, previous to their passage over into Europe, was 
sitting up late one night reading in his tent, he beheld a strange and 
terrific-looking figure standing beside him. He asked who it was, and 
for what purpose it had come. The phantom replied, " I am thy evil 
genius ; thou wilt see me at Philippi." " I shall see thee, then," said 
Brutus, calmly, and the figure vanished. 

The two armies met near the town of Philippi. As the advantage 
in point of position was on the side of the republicans, Cassius, who 
was a good general, wished to avoid an engagement, but he was obliged 
to yield to the impatience of his troops. In the action which ensued, 
Antony defeated Cassius and took his camp, while Brutus routed 
Caesar's troops and took their camp. Cassius, who had retired to an 
eminence, seeing a body of horsemen coming toward him, sent one of 
his friends to ascertain who they were ; and observing that they re- 



262 



BATTLE OF PHILIPPI, 



265 



ceived his messenger among them, and still continued to advance, 
while, being short-sighted, he could not ascertain whether they were 
friends or enemies, he took them for the last, and, withdrawing into 
a lonely hut, he made a faithful freedman strike off his head. When 
the horsemen who had been sent by Brutus came up, his friend who 
was with them slew himself; and Brutus, arriving soon after, wept 
over him, calling him the last of the Romans. 

In about three weeks after, Brutus was obliged by his troops to give 
the triumvirs battle again ; though his men fought with desperation, 
he was defeated. He took shelter for the night under a rock in a 
valley with his friends, where he passed the hours enumerating and 
lamenting over those that had fallen. Toward morning he tried to 
prevail on some of those who were with him to kill him, but they all 
refused. After some time he retired with two or three of his friends, 
and one of them having consented to hold his sword for him, he threw 
himself on it and died. 

The victory at Philippi ended the war, and the only concern of the 
trmmvirs now was to provide the means of rewarding their soldiers ; 
accordingly, while Caesar returned to Italy to plunder innocent people 
of their houses and lands for these military ruffians, Antony proceeded 
to Asia to rob the people there of their money for them, and also to 
obtain the means of gratifying his own appetites ; and the sums which 
he extorted from the unfortunate people were enormous. 

When he was at Tarsus, in Cilicia, he summoned Cleopatra to his 
presence. She was now sole ruler of Egypt, having murdered her 




266 



BATTLE OF PHILIPPI. 




jjati^a s Toyag' 



the CvJnus. 



brother ; but it was not on account of that crime that he summoned 
her : it was for not having aided the triumvirs in the hate war. She 
came ; at the mouth of the river Cydnus she entered a barge, the poop 
of which was adorned with gold, and its sails were purple ; the oars 
were set with silver, and the rowers kept time to the sound of flutes 
and lyres. The queen, dressed like the goddess Venus, reclined be- 
neath an umbrella embroidered with gold, while boys, adorned like 
Cupids, stood fanning her ; her female attendants were around her in 
the habits of the graces and the nereides or sea-nymphs, and costly 
spices and perfumes were burnt before her. When the news of her 
approach reached Tarsus, all the people of the city crowded to behold 
her, and Antony was left sitting alone on his tribunal in the market- 
place. He sent to invite the queen to supper, but she insisted on his 
coming to sup with her, and the next day he tried in vain to equal 
the variety and elegance of the entertainment which she gave him. 
The artful enchantress soon gained her object. Antony became her 
devoted slave ; he gave up her sister and others to her vengeance, 
and, laying aside all thoughts of the war Avhich he had been meditat- 
ing against the Parthians, he accompanied her to Egypt, where he 
abandoned himself wholly to luxury and enjoyment in her society. 

Cassar meantime was engaged in depriving the people of Italy of 
their lands for his soldiers. The poet Virgil, who was one of the suf- 



BATTLE OF PIIILIPPI. 



267 



ferers, but who recovered his lands by means of his poetry, has given 
affecting pictures of the misery occasioned by this wholesale robbery. 
Antony's wife Fulvia, and his brother Lucius, took advantage of the 
discontent caused by it to kindle a new war in Italy, but Coesar proved 
too strong for them. Fulvia fled to Greece, where she died ; and as 
Antony came to Italy on account of that war, Ci^sar gave him in 
marriage his sister Octavia, one of the most amiable and virtuous 
women that Rome ever possessed ; but all her virtues were lost on the 
worthless Antony, who soon after abandoned her for the wanton queen 
of Egypt. Coesar, who had conquered Pompey and deprived Lepidus 
of his share in the triumvirate, made the ill-treatment of his sister a 
pretext for war, and both sides prepared to commence hostilities. 





BATTLE OF ACTIUM— DEATH OF ANTONY AND 
CLEOPATRA. 

B. c. 31. 

HE cape of Actium, on the coast of Epirus, wit- 
\^ nessed this last conflict for the Roman empire. 
Each had a large army and a large fleet, but by 
the desire of Cleopatra, who was present, Antony, 
contrary to the advice of his best officers, resolved 
that the first engagement should be a naval one. 
On the second of September the fleets engaged. 
The action was maintained for some time with great courage on both 
sides, till, in the midst of it, whether from treachery or cowardice, 
Cleopatra fled, followed by all the Egyptian ships. Antony, when he 
saw her flying, instead of, like a brave man, despising her and letting 
her go whither she pleased, while he continued to fight for victory 
and honour, left the battle and followed her. His naval forces, worthy 
of a nobler commander, kept up the engagement till the evening, 
when, finding that he had deserted them, they submitted to Caesar, 
and, a few days after, the land army followed their example. 

When Antony overtook Cleopatra he went on board of her ship, 

268 




ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 



269 






^ <^hM^ r.^i\*yt7^ (^f^K^/f?^ t^^l\Cc)f?^ ^WC^fT^ (tq^^fT^ r«C*/f-?^ '^;%^ 




^^>5^;;:rj^ '^^^w:';^ '>i^*^:;jSj^ '>VJ^'<v.iI;:. 



••»*'' 






•" VyH'^Crj-' Vi^'^^vkKj^ ^-5/^.; 



where he sat for three days in silence, refusing to see her. At length 
her women brought about a reconciliation, and they proceeded to 
Egypt, which they began to put into a state of defence against Ctesar. 
Meantime, their days were passed in feasting and revelry, as if no 
storms menaced their repose. They sent to implore the clemency of 
Cassar ; the queen offered to resign her crown ; Antony prayed to be 
allowed to live in a private station at Athens. Caesar did not conde- 
scend to make him any reply, but he assured the queen of favour if 
she drove Antony away or put him to death. 

Cleopatra had at first caused ships to be made ready in the Red 
Sea, with the intention of flying, with her treasures, to some distant 
region ; but the Arabs of the desert attacked and burned her ships, 
and thus frustrated her design. She then caused a kind of sepulchre 
to be built, in which she placed her things of greatest value, and 
covered them with combustibles, with the intention, as she declared, 
of burning them and herself together, if driven to it. 

When Caesar's fleet and army approached Alexandria, Antony pre- 
pared to engage them ; but his fleet, instead of attacking, joined that 
of the enemy ; his cavalry followed the example, and his infantry was 
forced to lay down its arms, (b. c. 30.) He turned to the town in a 
rage, crying that Cleopatra had ruined and betrayed him. That artful 
princess, who had shut herself up in her newly-built sepulchre, then 
caused a report to be spread of her death. This report revived the 
tenderness of Antony, and he resolved not to survive her. He called 



270 



ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 




Death of Cleoj:ati-a. 

on his fjiitliful freedman Eros, Avho had sworn to kill him when re- 
quired, to perform his promise. Eros drew his sword, but plunged it 
into his own bosom, and fell dead at his feet. Antony then drew his 
own sword and stabbed himself. The wound not proving immediately 
fatal, he threw himself on his bed, writhing in agony, and calling on 
his friends to despatch him. Cleopatra, meantime, hearing of what 
he h;id done, sent to inform him that she was alive, and to request 
that he would let himself be carried to her retreat. As she would 
not venture to open the door, she and her maids drew him up by cords 
at a window, and she then abandoned herself to the most extravagant 
grief. Antony tried to console her, and he breathed his last in her 
arms. 

One of Ciesar's officers contrived, by stratagem, to effect an entrance 
into Cleopatra's sepulchre, and she was obliged to surrender herself 
and her treasures. C?esar treated her with much consideration, and 
he alloAved her to celebrate the funeral of Antony with great magnifi- 
cence. He then made her a visit. She received him slightly attired, 
her hair in disorder, her eyes filled with tears, and her voice weak and 
tremulous. He laboured to console her; she hoped to fascinate him 
like his uncle and Antony ; but he only wished to have her to grace 
his triumph. A few days after, she learned that such was his inten- 



ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 



271 




Augustus psrdoniDg Cinna. 



tion, and she resolved to disappoint him. She visited Antony's tomb, 
which she kissed, and crowned with flowers : she then, as if her 
mourning was over, dressed herself richly, and sat down to a splendid 
banquet. While she was at table, a peasant came with a basket of 
fine figs, and the guards admitted him without suspicion. But among 
the figs was concealed a deadly serpent, named the asp ; and Cleo- 
patra, having now secured the means of death, sent a letter to Cfesar, 
requesting to be buried with Antony ; and then, when alone with her 
maids Charmion and Iras, applied the asp to her arm. The faithful 
maids followed her example, and when those whom Cnesar sent to pre- 
vent her death arrived, they found her lying dead on her bed, Iras 
dead at her feet, and Charmion expiring, in the act of placing the 
diadem on her head. She was buried, as she had desired, by the side 
of Antony. 

Caesar returned to Rome, and, under the name of Augustus, be- 
came the first Roman emperor. 

The reign of Augustus was renowned for the brilliant literature by 
which it was distinguished. Virgil, Horace, and a host of other 
writers of scarcely inferior celebrity, have lent such a lustre to this 
period, that, in all succeeding times, the most successful period of a 
nation's literary history is called its Augustan age. Augustus and 



272 



ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 



his minister, Maecenas, were equally celebrated for their patronage of 
learned men. The character of Augustus, stained by many crimes 
during his struggle for ascendency, exhibits milder traits after his 
secure possession of the imperial power. Cinna, after having been 
loaded with favours by the emperor, conspired against his life. Ap- 
prized of the plot, Augustus summoned the detected traitor to his 
presence, and, after mildly remonstrating with him for his unparalleled 
ingratitude, granted him a free pardon. Such conduct inclines us to 
overlook many of the blemishes in Augustus's character. His patron- 
age of learning was another feature in the character of Augustus 
which has given him great celebrity. A^irgil was the especial object 
of his favour. He read the ^neid in the presence of the emperor 
and empress, and received the most liberal reward for the passages 
which referred to their lamented son, Marcellus. 




Virgil reading the yJi'neid to Augustus. 




CALIGULA. 




NDER Augustus the empire was flourishing, 
and Roman literature rose to its greatest 
perfection. Tiberius, his successor, rendered 
his name detested by his cruelty and trea- 
but it was reserved for Caligula, Claudius, 
and Nero to carry the wonders of imperial vice and 
folly to their highest point. 
Caius, surnamed Caligula, from the military boots [caligce) which 
he was accustomed to wear, was received, on his accession, with the 
utmost enthusiasm by both the senate and the people, on account of 
the great merits of his father, Gei'manicus. He began his reign by 
liberating all the state prisoners, and dismissing the whole horde of 
spies and informers whom Tiberius had encouraged. By these and 
other similar acts of generosity, he became so popular, that when he 
was attacked by sickness, the whole empire was filled with sorrow, 
and innumerable sacrifices were offered in every temple for his reco- 
very. This sickness probably disordered his brain ; fo» in his altered 
conduct after his restoration to health, there appears fully as much 
insanity as wickedness. Young Tiberius, whom he had adopted, was 
his first victim : he then ordered all the prisoners in Rome to be 
thrown to wild beasts, without a trial. But Caligula was not satisfied 
with simple murder ; it was his fiendish pleasure to witness the sufi'er- 
ings of his victims, and protract their tortures, in order that they 
might, as he said, feel themselves dying. Finding no one dare to op- 
pose his sanguinary caprices, he began to regard himself as something 
more than a mere mortal, and to claim divine honours ; and, finally, he 
erected a temple to himself, and instituted a college of priests to 
superintend his own worship. A less guilty, but more absurd proceed- 
ing, was the reverence he claimed for his favourite horse Incitatus, 
whom he frequently invited to dine at the imperial table, where the 

18 273 



274 



CALIGULA. 



animal fed on gilt oats, and drank the most costly ■wines from jewelled 
goblets. It is even said, that nothing but bis death prevented him 
from raising this favourite steed to the consulship. While the whole 
city was scandalized by his outrageous licentiousness, men were sud- 
denly astounded to hear that the emperor had resolved to lead an army 
against the Germans in person, and the most extensive preparations 
were made for his expedition. As might have been expected, the cam- 
paign was a mere idle parade ; but Caligula, notwithstanding, claimed 
the most extravagant honours ; and finding the senate slower in adula- 
tion than he expected, seriously contemplated the massacre of the 
entire body. At length the Romans became weary of a monster 
equally wicked and ridiculous : a conspiracy was formed for his de- 
struction, and he was slain in one of the passages of the circus, by 
Chgerea, the captain of the proatorian guards, (a. d. 40.) His body 
lay a long time exposed, but was finally interred like that of a slave ; 
his wife and infant child were murdered by the conspirators, who 
dreaded future vengeance. 






CLAUDIUS. 

LAUDIUS, the brother of Germanicus, and 
uncle of the late emperor, a prince of weak 
intellect, was raised to the throne by the con- 
spirators, whose choice was sanctioned by the 
senate. The unfortunate idiot, thus placed at 
the head of the empire, was, during his entire 
reign, the puppet of worthless and wicked fa- 
vourites, among whom the most infamous were the empresses Messalina 
and Agrippina, the eunuch Posides, and the freedmen Pallas and 
Narcissus. His reign commenced with the punishment of those who 
had conspired against Caligula : they were slain, not for the crime 
they had committed, but because they were suspected of a design to 
restore the ancient constitution. Notwithstanding his weakness, 
Claudius undertook an expedition into Britain, where the native tribes 
were wasting their strength in mutual wars ; and he commenced a 
series of campaigns which eventually led to the complete subjugation 
of the southern part of the island. The senate granted him a mag- 
nificent triumphal procession on his return, and Messalina, whose 
infidelities were now notorious, accompanied the emperor in a stately 
chariot during the solemnity. The cruelty of the empress was as 
great as her infamy : at her instigation Claudius put to death some of 
the most eminent nobles, and the confiscation of their fortunes sup- 
plied her with money to lavish on her paramours. Finally she 
proceeded to such an extravagant length, that she openly married 

277 



278 



CLAUDIUS. 



Silius, one of her adulterers. Narcissus, whom she had displeased, 
gave the emperor private information of her guilt, and she was slain 
in the gardens which had been the chief theatre of her crimes. 

Soon after the death of Messalina, Claudius married his niece 
Agrippina, the widow of Domitius iEnobarbus, by whom she had one 
son, originally called after his father, but better known in history by 
the name of Nero. The new empress did not, like her predecessor, 
render the state subservient to her amours, but she grasped at power 
to indulge her insatiable avarice, boundless ambition, and unparalleled 
cruelty. She ruled the emperor and the empire, appeared with him 
in the senate, sat on the same throne during all public ceremonies, 
gave audience to foreign princes and ambassadors, and even took a 
share in the administration of justice. She at length prevailed upon 
Claudius to adopt her child, Domitius, (Nero,) and constitute him heir 
of the sovereignty, in preference to his own son, Britannicus. But 
Claudius showing some signs of an intention to change the succession 
again, Agrippina procured him to be poisoned by his favourite eunuch 
and the state physician, (a. d. 54.) Having previously gained over 
Burrhus, the captain of the proetorian guards, to her interest, the 
empress concealed her husband's death until she had secured the army 
in favour of her son, rightly judging that the senate would confirm 
the choice of the soldiers. 





NERO. 




HE successor of Claudius, Nero Claudius Caesar, had 
been nurtured in the midst of crimes, and educated for 
the stage rather than the state. He was still a jouth 
of seventeen, and he looked on the empire as only an 
extensive field for the indulgence of his passions. He 
soon became wearj of his mother's imperious rule ; and Agrippina, 
finding herself neglected, threatened to restore the crown to Britan- 
nicus. This was the signal for the destruction of that young prince ; 
poison was administered to him by one of the emperor's emissaries, 
and a few hours after his death his body was borne to the pile ; for so 
little care had the emperor of concealing his share in the murder, that 
the preparations for the prince's funeral were made before the poison 
was administered. An infamous woman, Poppaea Sabina, who had 
abandoned her husband to live in adultery with the emperor, stimu- 
lated Nero to still greater crimes. Persuaded that during the lifetime 
of Agrippina she could not hope to remove Octavia, Nero's wife, and 
become herself a partner in the empire, she urged her paramour, by 
every means in her power, to the murder of his mother. Nero himself 
was anxious to remove one whom he so greatly feared ; but he dreaded 
the resentment of the Romans, who, in spite of her crimes, reverenced 
the last representative of the family of Germanicus. After various 

279 



280 NERO. 

attempts to destroy her secretly had failed, a body of armed men were 
sent to her house, and she was murdered in her bed. A laboured 
apology for this matricide was soon after published, which, it is painful 
to learn, was composed by the philosopher Seneca. 

The death of Burrhus, whether by poison or disease is uncertain, 
led to a great deterioration of Nero's character ; for the influence of 
that able statesman had restrained the emperor from many extrava- 
gances in which he Avas anxious to indulge. Tigellinus, a wretch 
infamous for all the crimes that are engendered by cruelty and lust, 
became the new minister ; and Nero no longer kept within the bounds 
of ordinary decency. Seneca was banished from the court ; the 
empress Octavia was divorced, and afterward murdered ; finally, 
Poppgea was publicly married to the emperor. A tour through Italy 
gave Nero an opportunity of appearing as a singer on the stage at 
Naples, and he was excessively gratified by the applause with which 
the Neapolitans and some Alexandrians fed his vanity. 

Soon after his return to Rome, a dreadful conflagration, which 
lasted nine days, destroyed the greater part of the city ; and it was 
generally believed that the fire had been kindled by the emperor's 
orders. Upon the ruins of the demolished city, Nero erected his cele- 
brated golden palace, which seems to have been more remarkable for 
its vast extent, and the richness of the materials used in its construc- 
tion, than for the taste or beauty of the architectural design. To 
silence the report of his having caused the late calamity, Nero trans- 
ferred the guilt of the fire to the new sect of the Christians, whose 
numbers were rapidly increasing in every part of the empire. A cruel 
persecution commenced : first, all who openly acknowledged their con- 
nection with the sect were arrested and tortured ; then, from their 
tortured confessions, thousands of others were seized and condemned, 
not for the burning of the city, but on the still more ludicrous charge 
of hatred and enmity to mankind. Their death and torture were 
aggravated with cruel derision and sport ; for they were either covered 
with the skins of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by devouring dogs, or 
fastened to crosses, or wrapped up in combustible garments, that, when 
the daylight failed, they might serve, like torches, to illuminate the 
darkness of the night. For this tragical spectacle Nero lent his own 
gardens, and exhibited, at the same time, the public diversions of the 
circus ; sometimes driving his chariot in person, and sometimes stand- 
ing among the people as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer. 

The extravagant expenses of the golden palace, the restoration of 
the city, the emperor's luxuries, and the entertainments given to the 
people exhausted the exchequer, and led to a system of plunder and 



NERO. 281 

extortion which nearly caused the dissolution of the empire. Not only 
Italy, but all the provinces, the several confederate nations, and all 
the cities that had the title of free, were pillaged and laid waste. 
The temples of the gods and the houses of individuals were equally 
stripped of their treasures ; but still enough could not be obtained to 
support the emperor's boundless prodigality. At length a conspiracy 
was formed for his destruction by Cneius Piso, in which the greater 
part of the Roman nobility engaged. It was accidentally discovered, 
and Nero eagerly seized such a pretence for giving loose to his san- 
guinary dispositions. Among the victims were the philosopher Seneca, 
the poet Lucan, Piso, and most of the leading nobles. In the midst 
of the massacres, Nero appeared on the stage as a candidate for the 
prize of music, which, of course, he obtained. About the same time 
he killed the empress Poppoea, by kicking her while pregnant. 

It may appear strange that such repeated atrocities should not have 
driven the Roman people to revolt ; but the lower classes felt nothing 
of the imperial despotism, and did not sympathize with the calamities 
of the nobles, because the ancient oppressions of the aristocracy were 
still remembered. They were, besides, gratified by a monthly distri- 
bution of corn, by occasional supplies of wine and meat, {conjiari et 
eviscerationes,) and by the magnificent shows of the circus, (nmnera.) 
In fact, the periods of tyranny were the golden days of the poor ; 
and Nero was far more popular with the rabble than any statesman 
or general of the republic had ever been. 

Not satisfied with his Italian fame, Nero resolved to display his 
musical skill at the Olympic games, and for this purpose passed over 
into Greece. The applauses he received in this tour from the specta- 
tors so gratified him, that he declared " the Greeks alone perfectly 
understand music." He transmitted a particular account of his vic- 
tories to the senate, and ordered thanksgivings and sacrifices to be 
ofiered for them in every temple throughout the empire. That no 
monuments of other victors might remain, he commanded all their 
statues to be pulled down, dragged through the streets, and either 
dashed to pieces or thrown into the common sewers. While he was 
thus engaged, the dreadful rebellion which destroyed the Jewish na- 
tion commenced in Palestine. Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, 
having been defeated in an attempt to besiege Jerusalem, the conduct 
of the war was intrusted to the celebrated Vespasian. Though Nero 
had been greatly delighted by the excessive adulations of the Achae- 
ans, he did not abstain from plundering their country ; and Achaia 
sufi'ered more from his peaceful visit than from the open war of Mum- 
mius or Sylla. 



282 NERO. 

Soon after the emperor's return to Rome, formidable insurrections 
burst forth in the western provinces, occasioned by the excessive tax- 
ation to which they were subjected. Julius Vindex, descended from 
the ancient kings of Aquitain, was the first to raise the standard of 
revolt in Celtic Gaul, of which he was governor. Galba soon after 
was proclaimed emperor in Spain by his soldiers, and was supported 
by Otho, the governor of Lusitania. Nero was not much disturbed 
by the rebellion of Vindex, but the hostility of Galba filled him with 
consternation. He was, however, consoled for a time by the intelli- 
gence of the defeat of the Gauls, who were so completely overthrown 
by Virginius, the imperial lieutenant, that Vindex slew himself in 
despair. Galba would now have been ruined, had not Nymphidius, 
whom Nero had appointed the colleague of Tigellinus, seduced the 
prietorian guards to renounce their allegiance. The emperor was 
immediately abandoned by all his ministers and servants ; he fled 
from Rome, and sought refuge in the house of Phaon, one of his 
freedmen. Here he soon learned that he had been declared an 
enemy to the state, and sentenced to be executed according to ancient 
custom, [more majorum.) Inquiring the nature of this punishment, 
he was informed that he was to be placed in a pillory, and beaten to 
death with rods, (a. d. 68.) At the prospect of such a cruel fate he 
was filled with horror, and declared that he would commit suicide ; 
but his courage failed when he Avas about to use the dagger. At 
length, hearing the galloping of the horse sent to arrest him, he re- 
quested the aid of his freedman Epaphroditus, and received a mortal 
wound. He was not quite dead when the centurion sent by the senate 
arrived, and endeavoured to stop the blood. Nero, looking at him 
sternly, said, " It is too late. Is this your fidelity?" and soon after 
expired. His body was interred privately, but honourably ; and 
many of the lower ranks, whose favour he had won by his extravagant 
liberalities, lamented his loss, honoured his memory, and brought 
flowers to decorate his tomb. 

During this reign, the provinces were harassed by frequent revolts. 
In addition to those we have already noticed, it may be necessary to 
mention the revolt of the Iceni in Britain, under the command of their 
heroic queen, Boadicea. She took up arms to revenge the gross 
insults and injuries she had received ; falling unexpectedly on the 
Roman colonies and garrisons, she destroyed a great number, both 
of them and their allies; and, could she have secured the co-operation 
of all the native tribes, might have liberated her country. This dan- 
gerous insurrection Avas quelled by Suetonius Paulus, who added the 
island of Anglesey to the Roman dominions ; thus taking from the 



NERO. 



283 



Druids, the secret instigators of resistance to all foreign power, the 
great centre both of their religion and their influence. 

The family of the Csesars, properly speaking, ended with Caligula ; 
but as both Nero and Claudius were maternally descended from 
Augustus, they are usually reckoned among the members of the Julian, 
or first imperial house. Its extinction, notwithstanding the vices of 
its later members, was a serious calamity to the empire : it led to a 
series of sanguinary wars arising from disputed successions, during 
which the supreme authority of the state was wrested equally from 
the emperors and senate by a licentious soldiery. 





Constantine. 



CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 




F the long line of emperors who succeeded Nero, 
Ave shall only notice one or two. The history of 
their reigns is rather tedious and uninteresting. 
But we cannot pass over Constantine the Great, 
as it was under his reign that the empire first 
became Christian. 

Constantine I., surnamed the Great, was the 
first emperor of the Romans who embraced Chris- 
tianity. Dr. Anderson, in his Royal Genealogies, makes him not 
only a native of Britain, but the son of a British princess. It is cer- 
tain that his father, Constantius Chlorus, was at York when, upon 
the abdication of Diocletian, he shared the Roman empire with Gale- 
rius Maximinus in 305, and that he died in York in 306, having first 
caused his son Constantine to be proclaimed emperor by his army and 
by the Britons. Galerius at first refused to admit Constantine to his 
father's share in the imperial throne ; but, after having lost several 
battles, he consented in 308. Maxentius, who succeeded Galerius, 
opposed him, but was defeated, and drowned himself in the Tiber. 
The senate then declared Constantine ^Vs^ Augustus, and Licinius his 
associate in the empire, in 313. These princes published an edict, in 
their joint names, in favour of the Christians ; but soon after, Licinius, 
jealous of Constantine's renown, conceived an implacable hatred 
against him, and renewed the persecutions against the Christians. 

284 



CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 285 



This brought on a rupture between the emperors, and a battle, in 
which Constantine was victorious. A short peace ensued, but Licinius 
having shamefully violated the treaty, the war was renewed, when 
Constantine totally defeating him, he fled to Nicomedia, where he was 
taken prisoner and strangled in 323. Constantine, now become sole 
master of the whole empire, immediately formed the plan of establish- 
ing Christianity as the religion of the state, for which purpose he con- 
voked several ecclesiastical councils ; but finding he was likely to 
meet with great opposition from the pagan interest at Rome, he con- 
ceived the design of founding a new city, to be the capital of his 
Christian empire. The glory Constantine had acquired by establish- 
ing the Christian religion was tarnished by the part he took in the 
persecutions carried on by the Arians, towards the close of his reign, 
against their Christian brethren who differed from them. Seduced 
by Eusebius, of Nicomedia, he banished several eminent prelates, soon 
after which he died, A. D. 337, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and 
thirty-first of his reign. Constantine was chaste, pious, laborious, 
and indefatigable ; a great general, successful in war, and deserving 
his success by his valour and genius ; a protector of the arts, and an 
encourager of them by his beneficence. If we compare him with Au- 
gustus, we shall find that he ruined idolatry by the same address that 
the other used to destroy liberty. Like Augustus, he laid the foun- 
dation of a new empire ; but, less skilful, he could not give it the same 
stability ; he weakened the body of the state by giving it a second 
head in Constantinople ; and, transporting the centre of motion and 
strength too near the eastern extremity, he left without heat and 
almost without life the western parts, which soon became a prey to 
the barbarians. The pagans were too much his enemies to do him 
justice. Eutropius says, that in the former part of his reign he was 
equal to the most accomplished princes, and in the latter to the 
meanest. The younger Victor, who makes him to have reigned 
more than thirty-one years, pretends that in the first ten years he was 
a hero ; in the twelve succeeding ones, a robber ; and in the last ten, 
a spendthrift. It is easy to perceive, with respect to these two re- 
proaches of Victor's, that the one relates to the riches which Constan- 
tine took from idolatry, and the other to those with which he loaded 
the church. 



ii'in'lMiiiiiiniiiijjj,^ 

„ Y— -T-.r7T:i^^iiitiiQ||[|| 




St. Ambrose refusing the communion to Theodosius. 




TIIEODOSIUS THE GREAT. 

1^ HEODOSIUS, surnamed the Great, a Roman emperor, 
^^as.^i\ ^'^^ *^^® ^^^ ^^ ^ distinguished general of the same name, 
■*■ who was executed for the alleged crime of treason, at 
nil Carthage, in 376. He was born about 346, at Canca, 
PI in Galicia, or, according to some accounts, at Italica, 
near Seville. At a very early age, he obtained separate 
command ; but, on the execution of his father, he sought retirement, 
until selected by the emperor Gratian, in 379, for his partner in the 
empire. To his care was submitted Thrace and the eastern provinces, 
which he delivered from an invasion of the Goths. This emperor dis- 
tinguished himself by his zeal for orthodoxy and intolerance of Arian- 
ism, which he put down throughout the whole of his dominions. In 
the space of fifteen years, he promulgated the same number of edicts 
against heretics ; and the office of inquisitors of the faith was first 
instituted in his reign. He liberated the provinces from the barba- 
rians with great prudence and diligence, and in the various warlike 
and other proceedings of his reign, showed himself an able and equi- 

286 



THEODOSIUS THE GREAT. 287 



table monarch, except when under the influence of resentment or reli- 
gious zeal. On the defeat and death of Maximus, he became the sole head 
of the empire, although he administered the affairs of the West in the 
name of Valentinian, the son of Gratian, then a minor. He passed 
three years in Italy, during Avhich period the Roman senate, which 
still chiefly adhered to the old religion, begged permission to restore 
the altar of victory — a request which he at first w^as inclined to grant, 
until prevented by St. Ambrose, who also induced him to pardon some 
zealots for having burned a Jewish synagogue. In 390, a sedition 
took place in Thessalonica, the result of which has branded the name 
of Theodosius with great odium. The origin of the catastrophe was 
in itself very trivial, being simply the imprisonment of a favourite 
charioteer of the circus. This provocation, added to some former dis- 
putes, so inflamed the populace, that they murdered their governor 
and several of his officers, and drn^ffed their mangled bodies through 
the mire. The resentment of Theodosius was natural and merited ; 
but the manner in which he displayed it was in the highest degree de- 
testable and inhuman. An invitation was given, in the emperor's 
name, to the people of Thessalonica, to an exhibition at the circus, 
and when a great concourse of spectators had assembled, they were 
massacred by a body of barbarian soldiery, to the number, according 
to the lowest computation, of 7000, and to the highest, 15,000. For 
this atrocious proceeding, Ambrose, with great courage and propriety, 
refused him communion for eight months ; and the docile, and, it is to 
be hoped, repentant Theodosius humbly submitted. About this time, 
the pious emperor crowned his merits, as a foe to paganism, by de- 
molishing the celebrated temple of Serapis, and all the other heathen 
temples of Egypt ; and he also issued a final edict, prohibiting the 
ancient worship altogether. On the murder of Valentinian by Arbo- 
gastes, and the advancement of Eugenius in his place, the emperor 
carried on a war against the latter, which finally terminated in his 
defeat and death. Theodosius did not long survive this success ; but 
after investing his sons, Arcadius and Honorius, with the Eastern and 
Western empire, he was carried off, at Milan, by a dropsical disorder, 
in January, 395, in the fiftieth year of his age, and sixteenth of his 
reign. He died possessed of a distinguished reputation, which was much 
confirmed by his services to orthodoxy and his docility towards the 
priesthood. He was doubtless a man of considerable abilities, and 
possessed many public and private virtues, which, however, will 
scarcely excuse the fierceness of his intolerance, or the barbarity of 
his anger and revenge. 




OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE, 

AND MORE PARTICULARLY OF THE JEWS. 




Y the various names of Hebrews, Israelites, or Jews, 
were this most illustrious people of ancient times known, 
who dwelt in the land then called Canaan. Contrary 
to the obscurity in Avhich the origin of other nations is 
veiled, we have the evidence of Holy Writ for the rise, 
progress, -decline, and fall of the Jews. They deduced 
their descent from Arphaxad, the son of Shem ; and we have it on 
record, that Abraham, the sixth in descent from Eber, the grandson 
of Arphaxad, dwelt in Assyria, but removed into Canaan or Palestine 
with his family, to the intent that the true religion of God should be 
preserved by them, his "chosen people," amid the idolatrous corrup- 
tions of other nations by whom they were surrounded. 

The period of which we are now speaking was about two thousand 
years before the birth of Christ. At that time the inhabitants of 
Mesopotamia and Syria appear to have been partly nomadic or wan- 
dering, like the Tartars or Scythians ; for we find that Abraham and 
his descendants sojourned in different parts of Canaan and Egypt, 
until the time of their protracted residence in the latter country. 
Abraham, at his death, transmitted the inheritance of the " promised 
land" to his son Isaac ; and Isaac was succeeded in the patriarchate 
by his younger son Jacob, also called Israel. 

Jacob had twelve sons ; the descendants of whom remaining dis- 

288 



OUTLINE HISTORY OP PALESTINE. 291 



tinct, constituted the twelve tribes of the Israelites in after time. 
Joseph, the youngest but one of these sons, having unconsciously ex- 
cited the jealousy of the rest, was sold by them, as a slave, to some 
Arabian merchants, by whom he was carried into Egypt ; there, as 
we read, he became known to the king, and was made his chief minis- 
ter ; and in a time of famine, for which his foresight had provided, 
he was the happy means of providing his aged father and the whole 
of his family an asylum in the fertile district of Goshen, (b. c. 1705.) 

The pathetic and interesting story of "Joseph and his brethren," 
as narrated in the Bible, requires no comment in this place ; but we 
may, perhaps, be allowed slightly to digress, in order to illustrate the 
case of Joseph's memorable rise from the condition of a slave to that 
of the chief ruler of Pharaoh's household. European notions of slavery 
very naturally picture to the mind all that is horrible, cruel, and 
revolting ; and it would seem next to an impossibility that, by any 
chance, one so helpless and degraded as a slave could become an 
oflBcer of trust, or — more wonderful still — the chief minister and ad- 
viser of a monarch of a mighty kingdom. It is, however, remarked 
by Marshal Marmont, who some years ago travelled through Turkey, 
&c., and who evidently paid great attention to the condition of the 
people and the customs of the countries he visited, that slaves in the 
East are far from being in the condition we might suppose ; and it is, 
therefore, not unreasonable to believe that the kindness with which 
they are treated at the present day is derived from immemorial cus- 
tom. He observes, " The most docile slave rejects with indignation 
any order that is not personally given him by his master ; and he 
feels himself placed immeasurably above the level of a free or hired 
servant. He is a child of the house ; and it is not unusual to see a 
Turk entertain so strong a predilection for a slave he has purchased 
as to prefer him to his own son. He often overloads him with favours, 
gives him his confidence, and raises his position ; and, when the mas-, 
ter is powerful, he opens to his slave the path of honour and of public 
employment." 

As peaceful dwellers in the rich and fertile valleys of Goshen, the 
Israelites in process of time became sufiiciently numerous to excite 
the envious alarm of the Egyptians; and they accordingly underwent 
many persecutions, until the Almighty raised up Moses as their de- 
liverer. Under his guidance they were emancipated from the yoke 
of Egyptian bondage ; the army of Pharaoh which pursued them was 
destroyed in the passage of the Red Sea. Their arrival at Mount 
Sinai was signalized by one of the most important events which has 
ever happened to the human race — the giving of the divine law to 



292 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 



Moses on Mount Sinai. Moses received it written on two tables 
of stone, and communicated it to the people. The miracles he was 
empowered to work, the murmurings and backslidings of the people, 
their idolatrous propensities, and all other particulars relative to them 
while wandering through the parched land and arid deserts of Arabia, 
form interesting portions of the sacred volume. We shall, therefore, 
pass on briefly to the death of Moses, and the delegation of power to 
Joshua, the acknowledged chief of the Jewish nation, (b. c. 1451.) 

Joshua was now ninety-three years of age, and had under his com- 
mand six hundred thousand men capable of bearing arms, besides the 
aged and infirm, women, children, and servants. On every side were 
warlike nations, some of them represented as containing men of gigan- 
tic stature and immense personal prowess ; their towns were well for- 
tified, and every necessary preparation had been made to repel inva- 
sion. The veteran leader was, however, undismayed ; and, relying 
on that protecting power who had delivered the people from Egyptian 
bondage, and brought them safely to the frontiers of Canaan, he went 
on "conquering and to conquer." At length, after subduing the 
" promised land," and establishing its tranquillity, he divided it among 
the twelve tribes ; charging them, at the same time, to give a tenth 
part of their goods to the tribe of Levi, who were consecrated solely 
for the priesthood : and hence proceeds the origin of tithes. Having 
ruled Palestine as wisely as he had conquered it bravely, and being 
now one hundred and ten years old, the aged warrior resigned his 
breath. 

Joshua was no sooner dead, than the Jews gave themselves up to 
anarchy, by which means they shortly fell under the power of Cushan, 
king of Mesopotamia. After a servitude of eight years, Othniel bo- 
came judge of Israel ; at whose death, Eglon, king of Moab, reduced 
them to his obedience ; and under his yoke they continued eighteen 
years. Ehud then ruled as judge of Israel, in whose time they fell 
under the government of Jabin, king of Canaan, who held them 
twenty-nine years ; when Deborah and Barak, jointly, judged Israel 
for thirty-three years. A fourth servitude, of seven years, then fol- 
lowed under the Midianites. Then Gideon and his successors, to Jair, 
ruled Israel as judges thirty-six years ; when, in the fifteenth year 
of Jair, the fifth servitude commenced under the Philistines and the 
Ammonites. Jephthah succeeded as judge, and was followed in his 
office by four successors, the last of whom was Samson, (whose super- 
human strength was exerted with such terrible effect on his enemies, 
the Philistines.) In his time, however, the Israelites fell again under 
their oppressors' yoke, and were ruled by them forty years. Eli then 




*¥'liipr " 



^^:.va;'iifiiiiiiii' 
I' 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 297 



became judge, who being nearly a hundred years old, his two sons, 
Hophni and Phineas, who acted under him, took advantage of his 
weakness to commit the most profligate abominations. They were, 
notwithstanding, by no means deficient in bravery; but having sus- 
tained a great defeat by the Philistines, in which they lost their lives 
and the sacred ark, their aged parent was so overcome on hearing the 
fatal tidings that he fell backward from his chair and instantly ex- 
pired. Samuel, at that time but a youth, though divinely inspired, 
was then chosen judge of Israel ; and, during the latter part of his 
administration, the land was in a more peaceful state than it had been 
for many previous years. 

When Samuel had been judge of Israel about twenty years, the 
people, wishing to imitate the example of their neighbours, demanded 
that they should have a king to rule over them. Samuel accordingly 
selected Saul for that high office, and on presenting him for their 
acceptance, "all the people shouted and said, God save the king!" 
Although many of the Israelites were afterward discontented with 
having a king who had been their companion and equal, the numerous 
proofs which Saul gave of his military qualifications checked their 
murmurs. He attacked and defeated the forces of the diff"erent na- 
tions who harassed the frontiers of his kingdom, and took signal ven- 
geance of their old and implacable enemies, the Philistines. As a 
warlike monarch he reigned with glory, but put an end to his life. 

The judges of Israel are to be considered as the defenders of reli- 
gion and the protectors of the laws ; they decided upon war and 
peace, and were at all times magistrates and warriors. 

He was succeeded by David, a shepherd of the tribe of Judah, 
under whom the government gained considerable strength. He was 
succeeded by Solomon, his son, celebrated for his wisdom and his 
magnificence ; he rendered the people happy by continual peace, and 
by the encouragement of commerce ; he had the reputation of being 
a wise prince, and his writings and his laws were received and esteemed 
in the most distant countries with all that veneration they deserved. 
His son Rehoboam, an insensible despot, ruled the Israelites with an 
iron rod. Ten of the tribes separated themselves from his govern- 
ment, and chose Jeroboam for their king. Palestine now became two 
kingdoms ; the one called Judah, and the other Israel. A difi"erence 
in religion was soon after introduced : that called the Samaritan, or 
Israelite, was embraced by the ten tribes ; while Judah and Benjamin 
kept to the ancient usage of their forefathers. 

Under Ilosea, king of Israel, the ten tribes were carried away 
captive to Nineveh, by Salmanezer. 



298 OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 



Nebuchadnezzar very soon placed the people of Judah in the like 
unhappy situation of the people of Israel. After having conquered 
Jerusalem, he transported them to Babylon, the capital of his empire. 
This captivity lasted seventy years, when Cyrus gave them the liberty 
of returning to their country. Great numbers accepted the offer, 
conducted by Zerobabel, Nehemiah, and Esdras. They rebuilt Jeru- 
salem and the temple ; they re-established their state and lived under 
their own laws, paying a small tribute to the kings of Persia, and 
suffered idolatry no more to take place of their devotion to the true 
God. 

The Jews were subject to the kings of Persia at the time Alexander 
made the conquest of that empire. At his death, his vast dominions 
were divided between his principal captains, and the king of Syria 
had a part of Judea ; but lying, as it were, upon the frontiers of both 
Syria and Egypt, it suffered severely from alternate invasions. Jeru- 
salem, since the Babylonian captivity, had no particular governors 
who took upon themselves the title of king ; the high-priests held the 
interior administration, and were respected as much as if they had 
actually been in possession of the throne. 

Ptolemy Soter besieged Jerusalem, and carried away one hundred 
thousand captives, whom he dispersed through Egypt, Libya, and the 
country about Cyrene, where their posterity for many centuries after 
continued to exist. During this period, Simon, surnamed the Just, 
was high-priest ; a man not less remarkable for his merits as a gover- 
nor than for his eminent piety. Under his directions the canon of 
the Old Testament was completed, and thenceforward transmitted to 
future generations without further revisal, (b. c. 292.) It was about 
this time that the sect of the Sadducees arose, who denied the exist- 
ence of a future state. They were, however, inferior in numbers and 
popularity to the Pharisees, who entertained a decided belief in the 
resurrection, and in the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. 
Under the patronage of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the Hebrew Scriptures 
were translated into Greek for the benefit of the Jews residing in 
Egypt. This version is usually called the Septuagint, because, ac- 
cording to tradition, the translation was intrusted to seventy persons. 

The situation of the Jews under the Syrians was various. Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes, wishing to alter their religious opinions, took the 
power of the disposal of the high-priesthood into his own hands, which 
he alternately disposed of, and dispossessed, according to his caprice. 
He pillaged the temple, and put Eleazer to death ; and also the seven 
brothers, Maccabees, with their mother. He also caused to be put to 
the sword, on the Sabbath-day, all those that had assembled together 







\i%iVt <l''ulW 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 301 



for the purpose of devotion. This cruel and unjust persecution caused 
the Jews to rebel ; they were headed by Mattathias, and, after his 
death, by his son, the celebrated Judas Maccabeus, the defender of 
the religion, and the saviour of his country. Eleazar, the brother of 
Judas, heroically sacrificed himself by rushing under an elephant 
■which he stabbed in the belly, and was crushed by his fall. Judas, 
being killed in battle, was succeeded by Jonathan, who united in him- 
self the spiritual and temporal powers. His brother Simon succeeded, 
and was equally celebrated for his wisdom as his virtues, and was the 
first of his nation who had governed Judea peaceably and absolutely, 
since the return from Babylon. He was killed at a banquet, and was 
succeeded by his son, John Hyrcanus, who was succeeded by Judas, 
surnamed Aristobulus, assuming to himself the title of king. 

Alexander Jannaeus was the next king, a hero very little inferior to 
David. He left two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. The former 
held the sceptre during the life of Alexandra, his mother ; but, soon 
after the death of that princess, Aristobulus declared war against his 
brother, and deprived him of his kingdom. 

Judea having become a Roman province, Pompey the Great, its 
conqueror, re-established Hyrcanus in the government, and took with 
him Aristobulus to Rome, to heighten the glory of his triumph. Phra- 
ates, king of Parthia, deposed Hyrcanus, and put in his place Anti- 
gonus, son of Aristobulus. Soon after, Herod, surnamed the Great, 
an Idumean by birth, and patronised by Antony, obtained permission 
from the Romans to assume the title of king of the Jews. 

This prince, although a tyrant to his subjects and to his family, 
added lustre to the Jewish nation : he repaired Jerusalem, rebuilt the 
temple, and procured to himself successively the favour of Cassius, 
Coesar, Antony, and Octavius ; augmenting his power by the art which 
he possessed of pleasing those of whom he held his crown. In his 
reign, Jesus Christ was born. 

After the death of Herod, Augustus divided the government of Judea 
between the sons of Herod : he bestowed one half upon Archelaus, and 
the other half upon Herod Antipas and Philip. 

In the tenth year of Archelaus's government, the Jews, not being 
able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical usage towards them, accused 
him to CiKsar, who, after a patient investigation, banished Archelaus 
to Vienne, a city of Gaul, (a. d. 6,) and taxed Judea as a Roman pro- 
vince, and it was governed by a procurator sent from Rome. One of 
these, Pontius Pilate, (a. d. 20,) introduced Caesar's effigies, which 
were upon the ensigns, into Jerusalem. The Jews earnestly solicited 
Pilate to remove these images, but he ordered his soldiers to threaten 



802 



OUTLINE HISTOPwY OF PALESTINE. 




Our Lord preaching by the sea -side. 

them Avith instant death if they would not depart. iMultitudes of them 
hiid their necks bare, saying that they wouhl rather sufler death than 
transf^ress their ancient hiws. Pihite was deeply affected with their 
constancy, and carried away the hated standards. I During Pilate's 
administration, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was engaged in his 
memorable ministry on earth, preaching to the people, and proving the 
authority of his mission by the most wonderful miracles : raising the 
dead, casting out evil spirits, healing the sick, giving sight to the 
blind, speech to the dumb, hearing to the deaf, and feeding the multi- 
tude. I lie chose for his apostles twelve unlearned fishermen, and 
commissioned them to preach salvation to a lost world. The Jews, 
though they had long expected a Messiah, dragged Jesus before Pilate's 
tribunal, and obtained permission of the judge, though he pronounced 
him innocent, to crucify him, (a. d. 33.) On the third day after his 
crucifixion, he rose from the grave, and afterward showed himself to 
his disciples, and commanded them to spread his gospel over the whole 
earth. 





Our Lord Feeding the Multitude 



-^^^- 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 



305 




The Crucifixion of our Saviour. 



The governors appointed by the Romans over the Jews were for the 
most part tyrants, which served to strengthen in them the propensity 
for revolt. They had been taught that a descendant of the house of 
David should deliver them from oppression ; they believed that the 
time was nearly arrived, and their insolence increased as the fulfilment 
of the prediction, in their opinion, drew near. They were almost in 
continual sedition ; and although severely punished for their turbulence, 
their ardour in a cause wherein they supposed their own liberties and 
those of their posterity depended was not in the least diminished. 

In the year 66 after Christ, the standard of revolt was set up. 
Jerusalem was besieged by Cestius, whom the Jews compelled to retire. 
Nero, who was then in Achaia, no sooner heard of that event, than he 
sent Vespasian into Palestine, for the purpose of effecting that con- 
quest which Cestius had been found unequal to obtain. 

Vespasian, who had already distinguished himself in Germany and 

20 



306 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 







Burning of the Temple by Roraan soldiers. 



Bi-itain, entered this devoted country v/itli a well-disciplined army; 
and, as he encountered everywhere a fierce resistance, he put to the 
sword men, women, and children. All the cities and towns that lay 
in the way of his march were taken and plundered. Those persons 
who escaped the cruelty of the conqueror fled to Jerusalem, then in 
the hands of two furious parties, each of whom persecuted its oppo- 
nents with unfeeling cruelty. Civil Avar and assassination became the 
consequences of their unbridled rage, and the priests themselves were 
not exempt from the popular fury. 

The siege of Jerusalem was suspended by the death of Nero. Three 
emperors mounted the throne ; Galba, Otho, and Vitellius ; all of 
whom died violent deaths. At length Vespasian was elected to the 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF PALESTINE. 



309 



purple. He immediately sent his son Titus to Jerusalem, to finish a 
•war which he had so successfully begun. 

Titus, having arrived before Jerusalem previous to the feast of Easter, 
took his station on the Mount of Olives, and, investing the city, he 
surrounded it with a wall, flanked with thirty towers. The magazines 
of corn had been destroyed by fire, and a most cruel famine raged 
within the city ; but, notwithstanding their terrible situation, the 
besieged refused the advantageous conditions offered to them by the 
Roman general. At length he became master of the city, which was 
nearly reduced to ashes, and also of the temple. A scene of butchery 
then commenced, and was continued for several days, until Jerusalem 
was left utterly desolate. 

According to Josephus, eleven hundred thousand persons perished 
during the siege and at the capture ; and those that were taken 
prisoners were made slaves. The misfortunes of Jerusalem were not 
confined to the Jews of that city, but extended to the whole of that 
people under the Roman power ; some were thrown to ferocious beasts 
at the public games, and others sold into bondage. The sufferings, 
indeed, of the devoted inhabitants are such as humanity shudders to 
contemplate, and over which pity is glad to throw a veil. 





J(jw3 of Morocco. 



TPIE STATE OF THE JEWS SINCE THE DESTRUC- 
TION OF JERUSALEM. 

HE Jews; obliged to quit tlieir country, irritated and 
provoked by the cruel treatment they had received, 
meditated to avenge themselves of their enemies. They 
began to put their murderous designs into execution 
at the city of Cyrene, in Libya, and in the island of 
Cyprus, where, since their flight, they had increased 
considerably. They were headed by an enterprising 
but artful man, named Andrew, under whom they not only committed 
the greatest excesses, but also gained some advantages over the 
Egyptians, and even over the Romans. The emperor Trajan found 
himself obliged to march an army against them ; but they were not 
reduced until after several engagements, maintained with the greatest 
obstinacy. They Avere at length overcome, and were treated by the 
Romans rather as enemies of the human race than as rebels against 
the power of Rome. Libya became so far depopulated in this conflict, 

310 




THE STATE OF THE JEWS. 311 



that the Romans thought it necessary to send a colony to repeople the 
waste. 

The Jews, notwithstanding their recent misfortunes in Palestine, 
again revolted. Adrian, the successor of Trajan, sent Julius Severus 
against them. This general, (according to Dion,) killed 580,000 in 
different battles ; and, he further asserts, they could not reckon those 
that perished by famine or otherwise : so that very few Jews escaped 
in this war. They razed (continues Dion) fifty fortified castles, pil- 
laged and burnt 985 cities and towns, and made such a general 
massacre of the inhabitants through the country, that all Judea was 
in a manner converted into a desert. Before this massacre, the 
number of Jews, according to the calculations of the priest made 
under Nero, and estimating those destroyed under Titus, amounted to 
2,546,000 persons. 

Adrian, after having ruined and massacred the greatest part of the 
remaining number, prohibited, by a solemn edict, confirmed in the 
senate, any of those that had escaped the sword from returning into 
their own country ; and from that time this unfortunate people have 
been entirely dispersed. 

Notwithstanding the prodigious numbers which perished in the 
successive overthrows of the Jewish nation, it is clear that very con- 
siderable colonies of them settled in different countries, as the travels 
of the apostles alone amply testify. In Rome, Alexandria, and many 
other places, there were flourishing communities. Some devoted 
themselves to the cultivation of the arts and sciences, others pursued 
handicraft trades, many practised as physicians, but most of them 
turned their attention to commercial speculations, and soon became 
notorious for their wealth and overreaching cupidity. 

In the fifth century, they were banished from Alexandria, where 
they had been established from the time of Alexander. They ren- 
dered themselves the ridicule of all nations by their enthusiasm in 
favour of a false Messiah, who appeared at that time in Candia. This 
impostor, who was named Moses, and pretended to be the ancient 
legislator of the Jews, asserted that he had descended from heaven, 
in order to enable the children of Abraham to enter the Land of 
Promise. 

A new revolt in Palestine, in the sixth century, served to show the 
turbulent disposition of the Jewish race, and the increase of the 
massacres of that people. Phocias drove them from Antioch, and 
Heraclius from Jerusalem. 

While some of the scattered families resorted to Egypt, Babylon, 
and other polished countries in the East, there were others who settled 



312 THE STATE OF THE JEWS. 



in Arabia, penetrated to China, or wandered over the European con- 
tinent. But many still remained in Palestine. After the conversion 
of the Roman empire to Christianity, Judea became an object of reli- 
gious veneration, and the empress Helena repaired hither in pilgrim- 
age, and built various splendid temples. A crowd of pilgrims resorted 
thither subsequently from every part of the world : the most numerous 
arriving from the west, over which the church of Rome had fully 
established its domination. In the commencement of the sixth cen- 
tury, however, an entire change took place. Judea was among the 
countries first exposed to the fanatical folloAvers of Mohammed, 
and soon fell under their sway ; and when the Turks poured in from 
the north, they profaned the holy places, and the intelligence of 
their outrages being conveyed to Europe, roused the religious 
spirit of the age into those expeditions called the crusades. All 
Europe seemed to pour itself upon Asia : the Saracen armies were 
routed, Jerusalem taken by storm, and its garrison put to the 
sword. The leader of the first crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon, was 
made king ; and a petty Christian sovereignty established, which 
endured for above eighty years ; the Holy Land continually stream- 
ing with the blood of Christian and Saracen. The Mohammedan 
states, whose resources were all at hand, gradually, however, regained 
the ascendency. In 1187, Judea was conquered by Saladin ; on 
the decline of whose kingdom it passed through various hands, till, 
in the sixteenth century, it was eventually swallowed up in the Turk- 
ish empire. 

Great calamities to the Jews occurred during the crusades. Wher- 
ever the fanatical soldiers who were on their march to Palestine passed, 
they pillaged and murdered the scattered inhabitants of the once happy 
land of Canaan, and the people of the nations among whom they dwelt 
robbed them of their valuables without remorse. The persecution was 
general, their furious enemies endeavouring, as it Avere, to extirpate 
the very name of Israel. It should be observed, however, that both 
Mohammedans and Jews being animated by a like hatred of the Chris- 
tians, we often find them acting in concert, especially during the Sa- 
racenic conquest of Africa and Spain. Nay, under the rule of the 
Spanish Moslems, the condition of the Jews not only enjoyed complete 
toleration, but they cultivated science, and were intrusted with the 
highest offices of the state. 

In the twelfth century, Philip Augustus, king of France, banished 
them twice from his kingdom ; and during the reign of Philip le Bel, 
they were accused, and not without justice, of cruel exactions and 
usurious extortions. They were also charged with having committed 



THE STATE OF THE JEWS. 313 



outrages against the host, of having crucified children on Good Friday, 
of having insulted the image of Jesus Christ, &c. They were put into 
the hands of the judges ; and, although no proof whatever was brought 
forward to substantiate their guilt, they were delivered over to the 
populace to be dealt with according to their pleasure. Philip banished 
them entirely from France in 1308, and confiscated all their effects. 
Louis X., his successor, permitted them to re-establish themselves in 
his kingdom, on condition of their paying him a large sum of money. 
In the reign of Philip the Long, brother and successor of Louis, they 
were massacred and pillaged. In 1395, Charles V. banished them, 
and confiscated all their property. This was their fourth and last 
banishment. 

In 1393 they experienced in Germany a treatment similar to that 
which they had received in France. In Castile they purchased their 
peace at a high price ; but in Catalonia, Arragon, and the other parts 
of Spain, they were most horribly persecuted, and nearly two hundred 
thousand of them were compelled to embrace the Christian religion, 
or at least appear so to do. 

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Jews established in 
Portugal underwent all the mischiefs with which Moses had heretofore 
menaced their nation. In 1506, during three days successively, they 
were barbarously massacred at Lisbon : yet, as if not content with 
taking away their lives, they took those among them whom they had 
mutilated, or mortally wounded, and burnt them by heaps in the public 
squares. Two thousand perished in this manner. The fathers not 
daring to weep for their children, nor the children for their fathers, 
they were mutually overcome by despair on seeing each other dragged 
away to torment. 

We are unable to state the precise period of their arrival in Eng- 
land ; but in the eighth century we find them reckoned among the 
property of the Anglo-Saxon kings, who seem to have exercised abso- 
lute power over both their lives and goods. In this abject state they 
remained under the Norman princes and the early Plantagenets, who 
harassed them by the most cruel exactions, and often treated them 
with great barbarity. In proof of this, we need only refer to the 
reigns of Richard L, John, Henry III., and Edward I. If we pursue 
their history in other European countries, Ave shall find that, if we 
except the Italian republics, and Spain while under the dominion of 
its Arab conquerors, the Jews everywhere found themselves the ob- 
jects of persecution. On the introduction of the Inquisition into Spain 
and Portugal, that dread tribunal condemned thousands to the flames 
before it commenced its diabolical proceedings against those Chris- 



314 



THE STATE OF THE JEWS. 



tians who differed from the see of Rome : and it was not until the 
Protestant states were strong enough to break asunder the shackles 
of religious intolerance, that the Jew had any chance of insuring his 
personal safety. 

We thus see that in different ages the Jews have suffered the most 
dreadful persecutions and massacres ; but though the annihilation of 
the race seemed to be inevitable, their numbers were still very con- 
siderable, and they exercised then, as they do at the present time, no 
little influence in the affairs of civilized nations. Since arts and learn- 
ing have revived in Europe, they have felt the benefit of that humane 
enlightenment which has extended all over the globe. France, Hol- 
land, Austria, and most of the German states, allow them the rights 
of citizenship ; England and Prussia tolerate and protect them ; in 
many of the British colonies they are among the principal merchants 
and traders ; and in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, they are at least suf- 
fered to reside unmolested. In the United States they enjoy all the 
rights of citizenship, and many of them are among the most respected 
citizens. The attention of the British nation has of late years been 
particularly directed towards the improvement of their political condi- 
tion and their conversion to Christianity. But upon the latter topic, 
as well as the probable restoration of the Jews to the land of their 
fathers, it is unnecessary to offer an opinion : both are concealed from 
mortal ken by the impenetrable veil which enwraps futurity. 




Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusadera. 





Artavardes. 



ARMENIA. 

HE ancient history of this large and warlike people is 
_z connected -with that of the several mighty nations who 
in turn filled the world with the terror of their names. 
Its first king appears to have been Scython, the next 
Barzanes, after whose death the kingdom was divided 
into several petty kingdoms. The Medes under Astya- 
ges subsequently subdued Armenia, which was reduced to a province 
under Persian governors. It was afterward divided into Major and 
Minor by Artarias and Zadriades, who having united their forces, 
established each himself in his respective province, independent of his 
master ; the former possessing Armenia Major, the other Minor. They 
were contemporary with Hannibal, who planned for Artarias the cele- 
brated town of Artarata. Assisted by the Roman alliance, these 
usurpers maintained their power in despite of the several attacks of 
their former master, Antiochus. After their death, the Armenians 
sufi"ered considerable loss in a war with the Parthians. Mark Antony 
put Artavardes, the sovereign of Armenia, to death, to make room 
for Alexander, his own son by Cleopatra ; others say that he led him 
captive to Rome in golden chains. Trajan reduced Armenia to a Ro- 
man province ; but in the reign of Constantine the Great and his 
successor, it had its own kings, dependent indeed on the emperor. 
Although St. Bartholomew is said to have introduced Christianity into 
Armenia, there can be no doubt that it was Christian in the beginning 
of the fourth century. Sapor, the Persian conqueror, reduced it to a 
province at the end of the fourth century. The Saracens subdued it 

315 



316 



ARMENIA. 



in A. D. 087, wlio gave way to tlie Turks about a century afterward. 
It was then called Turcomania. 

Armenia partially recovered its independence, but was again sub- 
dued by Occadan or Heccate, son of Genghis, first khan of the Tar- 
tars. A remnant of the royal family of Armenia still remained ; and 
we find one of them, Leo, went to England to solicit the aid of Richard 
II., ao-ainst the Turks, by whom he had been expelled from his throne. 
Armenia was again made a province of the Persian empire in 1472. 
Selim II. reduced it to a Turkish province, in 1522 ; the greater 
part of which still remains subject to the crescent. 




Ai-menian Costume. 




Scanderbeg. 



ALBANIA. 




LB ANIA was nominally a province of the Turkish 
empire. Its history is diversified, and mixed up 
with the various fortunes of the surrounding na- 
tions. Looked upon as barbarous by the Greeks 
and Romans, because very slightly explored by 
them, Albania, better known to those celebrated 
people as Illyricum and Epirus, still retains much 
of the simplicity of primitive habits, so that it is emphatically called 
the Scythia of the Turkish empire. The ancient historians describe 
the inhabitants of this country as peculiarly fierce and untractable. 
The remoteness of its situation, and want of union among the several 
tribes which inhabited the country of Albania, rendered the valour 
of its people of little consequence to the general afi'airs of Greece, 
and accordingly we find them but slightly mixed up with Grecian 
politics. Under the conduct of Pyrrhus IL, one of the most consum- 
mate generals of antiquity, who waged a bloody war with the Romans 
in Italy, the Albanians, or Epirotes, routed Antigonus, king of Mace- 
donia, and held that country in subjection; but their conquest ended 
with the death of their commander, and they in turn fell under the 
power of the Macedonians. 

The Romans made some settlements in their country, and availed 
themselves of the many fine harbours to be found along its coast. 

317 



318 



ALBANIA. 



At their decline, with other portions of that once mighty empire, Al- 
bania fell a prey to Alaric and the Goths, although some of their 
descendants afterward retained possession of the northern district. 
Sigismund, one of its kings, was celebrated for his alliance with Theo- 
dore, the victor of Clovis and Odoacer, (a. d. 526.) Albania now be- 
came the prey of the Sclavonian nations, till it was settled within its 
present limits, under the Bulgarians, in 870. As the Greek empire 
declined, the Albanians again rose to distinction, and at last re-es- 
tablished their independence, in spite of the most strenuous exertions 
of the Bulgarians, who were masters of all the neighbouring districts 
of Greece. 

Forming a fourth division of the army of Nicephorus Basilices, (a. d. 
1079,) they greatly distinguished themselves. During the next cen- 
tury, the period of the crusades, there were several settlements on 
their coasts by the Sicilians, Franks, and other nations. After the 
conquest of Constantinople, 1204, Michael Angelus established an in- 
dependent government in this district. 

The great hero of Albania, who was the champion of Christianity 
against the Turks for near half a century, was Scanderbeg, {t. e. Alex- 
ander Bey,) prince of that country, whose propeii name was George 
Castriotto, son of John, prince of Albania, born in 1404. Being given 
as a hostage to Sultan Amurath II., he was educated in the Mohamme- 
dan religion, and at the age of eighteen was placed at the head of a 
body of troops, with the title of sangiac. After the death of his 
father, in 1432, he formed the design of possessing himself of his 
principality ; and having accompanied the Turkish army to Hungary, 
entered into an agreement with Hunniades to desert to the Christians. 
This design he put into execution, and, having ascended the throne of 
his fathers, he renounced the Catholic religion. A long and bloody 
war ensued, in which Scanderbeg defeated army after army sent against 
him by the sultan. The whole power of the Turkish empire was found 
insufficient to subdue the little province of Albania under the able go- 
vernment of its heroic sovereign, and the sultan was obliged to con- 
clude a treaty with Scanderbeg which acknowledged the independence 
of his country. 

The Venetians, having entered into a war with Mohammed II., (the 
successor of Amurath II.,) induced Scanderbeg to renounce his treaty 
with the sultan. He obtained repeated victories over the Turkish 
generals, and saved his own capital, though besieged by an immense 
army commanded by Mohammed himself. Scanderbeg was carried 
off by sickness at Lizza, in the Venetian territories, in 1467, in the 
sixty-third year of his age. His death was soon followed by the sub- 



ALBANIA. 



319 



mission of Albania to the Turkish dominion. When the Turks took 
Lizza they dug up his bones, of which they formed amulets, to trans- 
fer his courage to themselves. 

Albania has cut some figure in the annals of the last forty years, 
chiefly through the enterprising spirit and politic conduct of Ali Pacha, 
who raised himself to a degree of power which long kept the Turks, 
who were nominally his masters, in a state of fear to attack him. 
After amassing immense treasures, and keeping up independent alli- 
ances with the European powers, he was, in 1822, finally cut ofi" by 
the Turkish officers. The modern name of Albania is Arnaut. 






HISTORY OF EGYPT. 

(with SYRIA.) 

HE early history of Egypt, like tliat of China, is so 
1^ involved in obscurity and fable, that for many ages it 
must be passed over in silence ; for it would be an in- 
sult to common sense, in a work professedly historical, 
to narrate the marvellous actions ascribed to Osiris, Isis, 
Typhon, Apollo, and a host of ideal personages who, 
as we are told, over Egypt "once held sway." After those purely 
fabulous ages, the first king who makes his appearance in the times 
called heroic, but without any certain date, is Menes, who is by some 
considered the same with Misraim, the son of Ham. He drained the 
lower part of Egypt, converting that which was before a morass into 
firm ground ; turned the course of the Nile, so as to render it more 
beneficial to the country, that river having before his time washed the 
foot of a sandy mountain in Libya ; built the city of Memphis ; insti- 
tuted solemn festivals and other religious rites ; instructed his subjects 
in many valuable arts ; and accomplished a variety of wonders usually 
attributed to the founders of kingdoms. 

It being impossible to follow the succession of princes, it must suf- 
fice to state, that after the death of Menes, Egypt was divided into 
several dynasties, or principalities ; but its most natural and perma- 
nent division appears to have been into three portions, sometimes 
under one, and sometimes under different kings. The most southerly 
portion was called Upper Egypt, or Thebais, the capital of which was 
Thebes, still remarkable for the extent and masnificence of its remains. 
The central part, or Middle Egypt, had Memphis for its capital, situ- 
ated opposite to the modern capital Cairo. Lower Egypt was the 

320 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



323 



country along the branches of the Nile, as it approached the sea : 
many large cities were built in this tract, one of the chief of which 
w^as Heliopolis. 

We learn that some ages afterward, (b. c. 2084,) Egypt was invaded 
by the Hycsos, a pastoral tribe from the north, who penetrated to 
Nubia, and established themselves in that country, and in Egypt, as the 
sovereign power. These are known as " the shepherd kings," and they 
were eventually expelled by Amosis, king of Lower Egypt, (b, c. 1825.) 

Various princes succeeded, who all bore the title of Pharaoh. The 
Israelites settled in Egypt, and were reduced to a state of slavery, 
from which they were delivered by divine interference ; and, as we 
are further informed in Holy Writ, one of the Pharaohs, with all his 
host, was drowned in the Red Sea. 

The most distinguished prince of this race was Sesostris, who 
marched victoriously through both Africa and Asia, as far as to the 
countries beyond the Ganges, and enriched Egypt with the booty lie 
acquired. After his return, he divided the country into thirty-six dis- 
tricts or governments. 

In 725 B. C, Sabachus, king of Ethiopia, conquered Egypt, and left 
the throne to his natural successors ; but after the reign of Tharaca, 
his grandson, a period of anarchy followed, and Egypt was divided 
among twelve kings ; one of these, Psammetichus, with the assist- 
ance of the Greeks, subdued his competitors, and became sole monarch, 
(b. c. GTO.) After his death, the Egyptian kings continued in fre- 
quent hostilities with the neighbouring nations of Judea and Assyria, 
attended with various success, and were at last reduced to Persian sub- 
jection by Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, (b. c. 525.) 

The Persians remained masters of Egypt until the year 327 B. C, 
when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, who was received with 
joy by the Egyptians ; the Persians having made themselves odious to 
the people by their exactions, and by their contempt of the Egyptian 
religion. 

Alexander, as great in the cabinet as in the field, permitted the 
conquered to enjoy their own laws and customs. He founded Alex- 
andria, which soon became the deposit of the commerce of the East ; 
and it ceased not to flourish until the discovery of a passage to India 
by the Cape of Good Hope. After the death of the Macedonian hero, 
Ptolemy Soter, one of his generals, took upon himself the government 
of Egypt, and his descendants enjoyed it till the year 30 of the 
Christian era, when it was conquered by the Romans ; and it became 
a province to that empire after the defeat of Mark Antony and the 
death of Cleopatra. 



324 HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



The Ptolemies governed Egypt for 293 years. The first four of the 
family were active and wise princes, who promoted the prosperity of 
their country, and encouraged literature and the arts. 

Ptolemy Soter, the son and successor of Ptolemy Lagus, established 
an academy of learned men at Alexandria, and founded the celebrated 
library at that city, which, by the time of the Roman conquest, con- 
tained 700,000 volumes. It was partly accidentally destroyed by fire 
in Julius Ccesar's attack on Alexandria ; but the losses were replaced 
in succeeding centuries, until the 7th after Christ, when it was totally 
destroyed by order of the Mohammedan caliph Omar. 

For nearly seven centuries Egypt belonged to the Roman and 
Greek empires, and was for a lengthened period the granary, as it 
were, of Rome. It then remained under the power of the Moham- 
medan caliphs till the beginning of the twelfth century, when they were 
expelled by the Turcomans, who in their turn gave way to the Mame- 
lukes in 1250. 

Before we proceed further with our hasty sketch of this once mighty 
kingdom, we will endeavour to give the reader some faint idea of it as 
it existed in its former state. The ancient kings of Egypt were always 
considered as subject to the laws of the empire, and their manners 
were, in some particulars, regulated by set rules ; among M'hich, the 
quality and quantity of the provisions for their tables were allotted. 
If a king, during his reign, governed arbitrarily, or unjustly, his 
memory was condemned after his death. No people were ever more 
idolatrous or superstitious than the Egyptians. Men, animals, and 
even plants, were the objects of their worsliip : but the deities Isis 
and Osiris were in the greatest repute, and adored generally through- 
out the country. They also especially worshipped Apis, a bull, dedi- 
cated to Osiris, at Memphis ; and Mnevis, a similar bull at Heliopolis. 
But every city had its sacred animal ; a stork, a cat, a monkey, a 
crocodile, or a goat ; any irreverence to which Avas severely punished, 
and an injury held deserving of death. The tribunal of Egypt was 
composed of thirty judges, chosen from among the priests of Heliopo- 
lis, of Memphis, and of Thebes ; who administered justice to the 
people gratuitously, the prince allowing them a sufficient revenue to 
enable them so to do. 

The Egyptians had two kinds of writing : one sacred, and one 
common. The former was the representation of ideas by figures of 
animals, or other sensible objects, called hieroglyphics ; many inscrip- 
tions of which still exist, as do inscriptions and writings in the common 
character. The priests were held in the highest reverence, and the 
hieroglyphics were known to them alone. Philosophy was early culti- 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



325 




Mameluke Soldiers. 



vated by the Egyptians, and the doctrine of the metempsychosis 
taught in their schools, to which many of the Greek philosophers re- 
paired. They also made great progress in astronomy and geometry, 
and in the arts, particularly of architecture, of ■which the whole 
country still offers extensive columns, obelisks, and those stupendous 
specimens of human labour, the pyramids. 

We now return to the history of Egypt after it became possessed 
by the Mamelukes, of whom it may be as well that we should here 
speak. According to M. Volney, they came originally from Mount 
Caucasus, and were distinguished by the flaxen colour of their hair. 
The expedition of the Tartars, in 1227, proved indirectly the means 
of introducing them into Egypt. These merciless conquerors, having 
slaughtered till they were weary, brought along with them an im- 
mense number of slaves of both sexes, with whom they filled all the 
markets in Asia. The Turks purchased about 12,000 young men, 
whom they bred up in the profession of arms, which they soon ex- 
celled in ; but, becoming mutinous, they deposed and murdered the 
sultan Malek, in 1260. The Mamelukes having thus got possession 
of the government, and neither understanding nor valuing any thing 
but the art of war, every species of learning decayed in Egypt, and 



326 HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



a degree of barbarism was introduced. Neither was their empire of 
long duration, notwithstanding their martial abilities : for as they de- 
pended upon the Christian slaves, chiefly brought from Circassia, whom 
they bought for the purpose of training to war, and thus filling up 
their ranks, these new Mamelukes, or Borgites as they were at first 
called, in time rose upon their masters, and transferred the govern- 
ment to themselves, about a. d. 1382. 

They became famous for ferocious valour; were almost perpetually 
engaged in wars cither foreign or domestic ; and their dominion lasted 
till 1517, when they wore invaded by Selim I., the Turkish sultan. 
The Mamelukes defended themselves with incredible bravery ; but, 
overpowered by numbers, they were defeated in almost every engage- 
ment. Cairo, their capital, was taken, and a terrible slaughter made 
of its defenders. The sultan, Tuman Bey, was forced to fly ; and, 
having collected all his forces, he ventured a decisive battle. The 
most romantic efforts of valour, however, were insuflicient to cope with 
the innumerable multitude which composed the Turkish army. Most 
of his men were cut in pieces, and the unhappy prince was himself 
taken and put to death. With him ended the glory of the Mame- 
lukes. 

The sultan Selim commenced his government of Egypt by an unex- 
ampled act of wholesale butchery. Having ordered a theatre to be 
erected on the banks of the Nile, he caused all the prisoners (upwards 
of 30,000) to be beheaded in his presence, and their bodies thrown 
into the river. He did not, however, attempt the total extermination 
of the Mamelukes, but proposed a new form of government, by which 
the power, being distributed among the different members of the state, 
should preserve an equilibrium ; so that the dependence of the whole 
should be upon himself. With this view, he chose from among those 
Mamelukes who had escaped the general massacre, a divan, or council 
of regency, consisting of the pacha and chiefs of the seven military 
corps. The former was to notify to this council the orders of the 
Porte, to send the tribute to Constantinople, and provide for the safety 
of government both external and internal ; while, on the other hand, 
the memi)ers of the council had a right to reject the orders of the 
pacha, or even of deposing him, provided they could assign sufficient 
reasons. All civil and political ordinances must also be ratified by 
them. Besides this, he formed the whole body into a kind of repub- 
lic ; for which purpose he issued an edict, stating, " Though, by the 
help of the Almighty, we have conquered the whole kingdom of Egypt 
with our invincible armies, nevertheless our benevolence is willing to 
grant to the twenty-four sangiacs of Egypt a republican government," 



HISTORY OP EGYPT. 329 



&c. The conditions and regulations then follow, the most important 
of which are those which make it incumbent on the republic to pro- 
vide 12,000 troops at its own expense in time of peace, and as many 
as may be necessary for its protection in time of war ; and also to 
send to the Sublime Porte a certain sum in money annually as tribute, 
with 600,000 measures of corn, and 400,000 of barley. Upon these 
conditions the Mamelukes were to have a free government over all the 
inhabitants of Egypt, independent of the Turkish lieutenant. 

Thus the power of the Mamelukes still continued in a very con- 
siderable degree, and gradually increased so much as to threaten a 
total loss of dominion to the Turks ; but, singular as it may seem, 
notwithstanding a residence of nearly six centuries, they never became 
naturalized in the country. They formed no alliance with the females 
of Egypt, but had their wives brought from Georgia, Mingrelia, and 
the adjacent countries ; so that, according to Volney, their offspring 
invariably became extinct in the second generation ; they were there- 
fore perpetuated by the same means by which they were first esta- 
blished ; that is, their ranks were recruited hj slaves brought from 
their original country. Indeed, as many writers have remarked, the 
Circassian territories have at all times been a nursery of slaves. 

Towards the end of the last century, when they constituted the 
whole military force, and had acquired the entire government of 
Egypt, the Mamelukes, together with the Serradijes, a kind of mounted 
domestics, did not exceed ten thousand men. Some hundreds of them 
were dispersed throughout the country and in the villages, to maintain 
the authority of their corps and collect tribute ; but the main body 
constantly remained at Cairo. " Strangers to each other, bound by 
no ties as parents or children, placed among a people with whom 
they had nothing in common, despised as renegades by the Turks, 
ignorant and superstitious from education, ferocious, perfidious, sedi- 
tious, and corrupted by every species of debauchery, the disorders 
and cruelties which accompanied their licentious rule may be more 
easily imagined than described. Sovereignty to them was to have the 
means of possessing more women, toys, horses, and slaves than others ; 
of managing the court of Constantinople, so as to elude the tribute or 
the menaces of the sultan ; and of multiplying partisans, counter- 
mining plots, and destroying secret enemies by the dagger or poison. 
But, with all this, they were brave in the extreme. Their beys, and 
even the common soldiers, distinguished themselves by the magnificence 
and costliness of their accoutrements, though these were in general 
clumsy and heavy. Being trained from infancy to the use of arms 
and horsemanship, they were admirable horsemen, and used the 



330 



HISTORY OP EGYPT. 



^^^^^SUS 




bbop in Cairo. 



ciraeter, carbine, pistol, and lance, Avith almost unequalled skill and 
vigour." 

About the year 1746, Ibrahim, an oflicer of the Janissaries, ren- 
dered himself in rcalit}'- master of Egypt, having managed matters so 
well that of the twenty-four beys, or sangiacs, eight were of his house- 
hold ; so that by this means, as well as by attaching the officers and 
soldiers of his corps to his interest, the pacha became altogether 
unable to oppose him, and the orders of the sultan were less respected 
than those of Ibrahim. At his death, in 1757, his family continued 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 331 



to rule in a despotic manner ; but waging war among each other, 
Ali Bey, who had been a principal actor in the disturbances, in 1766 
overcame the rest, and for some time rendered himself absolute master 
of Egypt. This remarkable man was a Syrian by birth, and had 
been purchased when a youth in the slave-market at Cairo ; but being 
possessed of great talents, and of a most ambitious turn of mind, he, 
after a variety of extraordinary adventures, was appointed one of the 
twenty-four beys of Egypt. 

The Porte, being at that time on the eve of a dangerous war with 
Russia, had not leisure to attend to the proceedings of Ali Bey ; so 
that he had an opportunity of vigorously prosecuting his designs. 
His first expedition was against an Arabian prince named Hammam, 
against whom he sent his favourite, Mohammed Bey, under pretence 
that the former had concealed a treasure intrusted with him by Ibra- 
him, and that he afforded protection to rebels. Having destroyed 
this unfortunate prince, he next began to put in execution a plan pro- 
posed to him by a young Venetian merchant, of rendering Gedda, the 
port of Mecca, an emporium for all the commerce of India ; and he 
even imagined he should be able to make the Europeans abandon the 
passage to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. With this view, 
he fitted out some vessels at Suez, and, manning them with Mamelukes, 
commanded the bey Hassan to sail with them to Gedda and seize upon 
it, while a body of cavalry, under Mohammed Bey, advanced against 
the town. Both these commissions were executed according to his 
wish, and Ali became quite intoxicated with his success. Nothing but 
ideas of conquest now occupied his mind, without considering the im- 
mense disproportion between his own force and that of the grand 
seignior. Circumstances were then, indeed, very favourable to his 
schemes. The sheik Daher was in rebellion against the Porte in 
Syria, and the pacha of Damascus had so exasperated the people by 
his extortions that they were ready for a revolt. 

Having made the necessary preparations, Ali Bey despatched about 
five hundred Mamelukes to take possession of Gaza, and thus secure 
an entrance into Palestine. Osman, the pacha of Damascus, however, 
no sooner heard of the invasion than he prepared for war, while the 
troops of Ali Bey held themselves in readiness to fly on the first 
attack. Sheik Daher hastened to their assistance, while Osman fled 
without even offering to make the least resistance, thus leaving the 
enemy masters of all Palestine. The combined army of Ali Bey and 
Sheik Daher afterward marched to Damascus, where the pacha 
waited for them, and on the 6th of June, 1771, a decisive action took 
place ; the Mamelukes and Safadians (the name of Daher 's subjects) 



332 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 




i.Iodern Egyptian JJusician?;. 



rushed on the Turks with such fury, that, terrified at their courage, 
the hatter immediately fled, and the allies became masters of the coun- 
try, taking possession of the city -without opposition. The castle 
alone resisted. Its ruinous fortification had not a single cannon, but 
it was surrounded by a muddy ditch, and behind the ruins were posted 
a few musketeers, and these alone were suiScient to check this army 
of cavalry. 

As the besieged, however, were already conquered by their fears, 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 333 



they capitulated on the third day, and the place was to be surrendered 
next morning, when, at daybreak, a most extraordinary revolution 
took place. This was no less than the defection of Mohammed Bey 
himself, whom Osman had gained over in a conference during the 
night. At the moment, therefore, that the signal of surrender was 
expected, this treacherous general sounded a retreat, and turned 
towards Egypt with all his cavalry, flying with as great precipitation 
as if he had been pursued by a superior army. Mohammed continued 
his march with such celerity that the report of his arrival in Egypt 
reached Cairo only six hours before him. Thus Ali Bey found him- 
self at once deprived of all liis expectations of conquest ; and, what 
was indeed galling, he found a traitor, whom he durst not punish, at 
the head of his forces. A sudden reverse of fortune now took place. 
Several vessels laden with corn for Sheik Daher were taken by a 
Russian privateer ; and Mohammed Bey, whom he designed to have 
put to death, not only made his escape, but was so well attended that 
he could not be attacked. His followers continuing daily to increase 
in number, Mohammed soon became sufficiently strong to march 
towards Cairo ; and, in April, 1772, having defeated the troops of 
Ali in a rencontre, entered the city, sword in hand, while the latter 
had scarcely time to make his escape with eight hundred Mamelukes. 
With difficulty he was enabled to get to Syria by the assistance of 
Sheik Daher, whom he immediately joined with the troops he had with 
him. The Turks, under Osman, were at that time besieging Sidon, 
but raised the siege on the approach of the allied army, consisting of 
about seven thousand cavalry. Though the Turkish army was at least 
three times their number, the allies did not hesitate to attack them, 
and gained a complete victory. 

Their affairs now began to wear a more favourable aspect, but the 
military operations were retarded by the siege of Yafa, (the ancient 
Joppa), which had revolted, and held out for eight months. In the 
beginning of 1773 it capitulated, and Ali Bey began to think of re- 
turning to Cairo. For this purpose. Sheik Daher had promised him 
succours, and the Russians, with whom he had now contracted an alli- 
ance, made him a similar promise. Ali, however, ruined every thing 
by his own impatience. He set out with his Mamelukes and fifteen 
hundred Safadians given him by Daher, but he had no sooner entered 
the desert which separates Gaza from Egypt, than he was attacked by 
a body of one thousand chosen Mamelukes, who were lying in wait for 
his arrival. They were commanded by a young bey named Mourad, 
who, being enamoured of the wife of Ali Bey, had obtained a promise 
of her from Mohammed, in case he could bring him her husband's 



334 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



head. As soon as Mourad perceived the dust by which the approach 
of Ali's army was announced, he rushed forward to the attack, and 
took prisoner Ali Bey himself, after wounding him in the forehead 
with a sabre. Being conducted to Mohammed Bey, the latter pre- 
tended to treat him with extraordinary respect, and ordered a magnifi- 
cent tent to be erected for him ; but in three days he was found dead 
of his wounds, as was given out, though some, with equal probability, 
affirm that he was poisoned. 

TJpon the death of Ali Bey, Mohammed took upon himself the su- 
preme dignity. At first he pretended to be only the defender of the 
rights of the sultan, remitted the usual tribute to Constantinople, and 
took tlie customary oath of unlimited obedience ; after which he so- 
licited permission to make war upon Sheik Daher, against whom he 
had a personal pique. In February, 1776, he appeared in Syria with 
an army equal to that which he had formerly commanded under Ali 
Bey. Daher's forces, despairing of being able to cope with such a for- 
midable armament, abandoned Gaza, of which Mohammed immediately 
took possession, and then marched towards Yafa, which defended itself 
so long that Mohammed was distracted Avith rage, anxiety, and de- 
spair. The besieged, however, whose numbers were diminished by the 
repeated attacks, became weary of the contest, and it was proposed to 
abandon the place, on the Egyptians giving hostages. Conditions 
were agreed upon, and the treaty might be considered as concluded, 
when, in the midst of the security occasioned by this belief, some 
Mamelukes entered the town ; numbers of others followed their ex- 
ample, and attempted to plunder. The inhabitants defended them- 
selves, and the attack recommenced ; the whole army then rushed into 
the town, which suffered all the horrors of war ; women and children, 
young and old men, were all cut to pieces, and Mohammed, equally 
mean and barbarous, caused a pyramid, formed of the heads of the 
unfortunate sufferers, to be raised as a monument of his victor3^ By 
this disaster the greatest terror and consternation were diffused every- 
where. Sheik Daher himself fled, and Mohammed soon became mas- 
ter of Acre also. Here he behaved with his usual cruelty, and aban- 
doned the city to be plundered by his soldiers. But his career was 
soon stopped, his death just at the time occurring through a malignant 
fever, after two days' illness. 

Soon after Mohammed's death, a contest arose among several of 
the beys as to who should succeed him. But the chief struggle lay 
between Mourad and Ibrahim, who, having ultimately overcome the 
rest, agreed, in 1785, to share the government between them, and 
continued to rule as joint pachas for many years. From that time 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



335 




iMfiM-B£-&E^^ffl3M3M^3^ 



we have no accounts of any remarkable transaction in Egypt till the 
French invaded that country in 1798; which we shall as concisely as 
possible relate, and then take a brief survey of some striking events 
that have occurred more recently. 

When Selim III. ascended the Ottoman throne, the French revolu- 
tion was just breaking out; but until Bonaparte's memorable invasion 
of Egypt and Syria, its effects were not much felt in that quarter of 
the globe. The two Mameluke beys, Mourad and Ibrahim, were at 
that time at the head of the government. 

The French landed near Alexandria on the 1st of July, 1798 ; and 
that city was taken by assault on the 5th, and plundered by the sol- 
diery. They then marched to Cairo, but were met by an army of 
Mamelukes in the plains near the Pyramids, where the French gained 
a signal victory, which was followed by their occupation of the capi- 
tal, and the submission, in general, of the inhabitants. 

The destruction of the French fleet by the English under Nelson, 
in the bay of Aboukir, was the next event of importance ; yet, not- 
withstanding this great calamity, Bonaparte was not deterred from 
pursuing his original design, but set out at the head of ten thousand 



336 



HISTORY OP EGYPT. 




Submission of the Egyptians to Napoleon. 



men to cross the desert -wliicli separates Egypt from Palestine. On 
bis arrival in Syria he conquered several towns, one of which was 
Jafflx, where an act of atrocity was committed by him, which, notwith- 
standing all the sophistry that has been employed to palliate it, will 
ever remain as a foul and infamous blot on the French commander; 
this was the deliberate murder of a large body of prisoners, chiefly 
Albanians, who had surrendered to the French, and for whose suste- 
nance, it was pleaded, the latter had not suQlcient provisions ! 

AVe shall not enter into a detail of the memorable siege of Acre, 
undertaken by Bonaparte, who, after putting every engine into ope- 
ration that skill could dictate or disappointed ambition suggest, was 
compelled to retire, humbled and discomfited by Sir Sydney Smith 
and his gallant fellows, who had been sent to the Syrian coast for the 
express purpose of assisting to expel the French. The noble defence 
of Acre in reality put an end to all his hopes of conquest in the East, 
and the British army under the brave Abercrombie completed, in 1801, 
that overthrow which had so well been begun by a handful of British 
sailors. 

The most remarkable person connected with Egypt, after the period 
of which we have been speaking, was Mehemet Ali, the Turkish pacha 
of that country. This chief, Avho has since become so prominent in 
Egyptian and Syrian history, was ambitious of making himself inde- 
pendent of the Ottoman Porte ; but as this could not be effected while 
the Mameluke beys retained their power and influence, he determined 
on their extirpation by a cold-blooded act of treachery. He accord- 
ingly invited them to a grand festival to be given in honour of his 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



337 




son Ibrahim, who had just been appointed commander-in-chief of an 
expedition against the Wahabites of Arabia. Wholly unsuspicious of 
the treacherous design of Mehemet Ali, the beys arrived at the castle 
on the appointed day, (March 1st, 1811,) each attended by his suite; 
but they had no sooner entered, than they were seized and beheaded. 
The execution of all the chief Mamelukes throughout the country 
immediately followed ; and Mehemet now, though nominally a vassal 
of the Turkish empire, exercised all the functions and privileges of an 
absolute sovereign prince. 

Mehemet Ali had provoked the insurrection in Syria, and, but for 
the interference of England and her continental allies, would have 
wrested Egypt and Syria from the Turks ; but the allied fleet, under 
the command of Sir R. Stopford and Commodore Napier, bombarded 
and captured the whole line of fortified places along the coast of 
Syria, ending their operations with the destruction of St. Jean d'Acre. 
A heavy cannonade for nearly three hours was kept up, by which 
time the guns of the forts were silenced ; when, owing to one of the 
bomb-shells falling on the enemy's powder-magazine, an awful explo- 
sion took place, and twelve hundred human beings were blown into 
the air. This decided the fate of the war ; and Mehemet Ali, after a 

22 



338 



HISTORY OF EGYPT. 



long negotiation, in ■which the allied powers of Europe took part, was 
reinstated in his viceroyship of Egypt, the government of that coun- 
try to descend in a direct hereditary line, (a. d. 1841.) That Mehemet 
Ali is a man of very superior talents, and that under his efficient 
administration of affairs, Egypt has made great advances in arts and 
in arms, and in the improvement of those natural advantages which 
she possesses for securing her internal prosperity, no one can enter- 
tain a douht ; hut, at the same time, we cannot forget that many of 
his actions prove him to be despotic, cruel, and revengeful. 




The Shadouf, an apparatus for raisins water from the Nile. 




statue of Drusus, erected by his army on the Rhine— destroyed by the French in 16SS. 



ANCIENT GERMANY. 

SUCCESSFUL RESISTANCE OF THE GERMANS AGAINST THE ROMANS. 

HE limits of ancient Germany were probably 
v\\^ not very different from those of the country 
which still bears that name. On the west it 
was bounded by the Rhine ; but a few tribes 
had from time to time crossed over to the left 
bank of the river, and founded colonies, which 
at a very early period fell into the hands of 
the Romans. On the south the Alps separated 
it from Italy, and on the north it was bounded 
by the Baltic and Northern Seas. The eastern limits were less dis- 
tinctly defined, varying as the Germanic tribes pushed their con- 
quests to the very shores of the Black Sea, or were driven back to the 
Vistula. 

The Roman writers, Avho describe Germany as it was two thousand 
years ago, speak with horror of its cold and inhospitable climate, its 
heaths and swamps, and, above all, of a wild tract of woodland called 
the Hercynian Forest, which extended, as they were told, more than 
sixty days' journey in length and nine in breadth. The inhabitants 
of this desolate region were men of gigantic stature, with fair com- 

339 




340 ANCIENT GERMANY. 



plexions, long yellow hair, and large well-opened blue eyes. The 
clothing of both sexes was simple, being nothing more than a woollen 
tunic without sleeves, which covered only the body, leaving the arms, 
legs, and thighs entirely unprotected. 

The earliest accounts which we have of the Germans as a nation 
begin with the year 113 b. c, when a tribe called the Cimbri appeared 
on the northeastern frontier of Italy, were opposed by a Roman army 
under Papirius Carbo, and, after an obstinate engagement, cut Carbo's 
army to pieces. In the year 105 e. c, they again defeated the Ro- 
mans, when Marius was sent against them, and gave them a signal 
defeat. 

After this, there was peace between the Romans and Germans until 
the year 55 B. C, when Julius Ctesar, who had already been many 
years in Gaul, (where he had vanquished a renowned German chieftain 
named Ariovistus or Ehrenfest,) threw a bridge of boats across the 
Rhine at Andernach, and continued eighteen days in Germany, ra- 
vaging the country with fire and sword : but being recalled to oppose 
Pompey, his conquests were necessarily abandoned, and the Germans 
remained unmolested until the reign of Augustus, when their country 
was again invaded by Drusus and Tiberius. In the year 9 b, c, Dru- 
sus, after a succession of victories which had placed the greater part 
of northern Germany at his disposal, was preparing to cross the Elbe, 
when a woman of gigantic stature and stern aspect suddenly appeared 
in front of the troops, and addressed him in these words : " Thou in- 
satiable robber ! Whither wouldst thou go ? Depart ! The end of thy 
misdeeds and of thy life is at hand." Dismayed at this apparition, 
Drusus immediately retreated, and within thirty days died in conse- 
quence of a fall from his horse. But Germany, although delivered 
from one invader, still trembled before the victorious arms of Tibe- 
rius ; and province after province fell, until the Romans, with com- 
paratively little expenditure of blood or treasure, had made themselves 
masters of all the territory lying between the Rhine and Elbe, and the 
Alps and Danube. 

The northern district had been committed to the government of 
Quintilius Varus, a leader of considerable reputation and experience, 
who entered Germany with an immense army, and proceeded to treat 
all the countries between the Rhine and Elbe as conquered provinces, 
making military roads, repairing the castles built by Drusus, and 
establishing courts, in which justice was administered by judges 
brought from Rome. But a fearful reverse was at hand. 

There happened to be at that time among the Cherusci a warrior 
named Arminius, or Herman, who bad served, like many of his coun- 



ANCIENT GERMANY. 341 



trymen, in the armies of Rome, where he had acquired the art of war, 
and learned to detest the haughty conquerors of his native land. Of 
noble birth, sagacious beyond the wont of his countrymen, and possess- 
ing that rude and fiery eloquence Avhich most readily finds its way to 
the hearts of barbarians, Arminius soon gained unbounded influence 
over the youth of Germany, whom he assembled at midnight, in the 
deep recesses of their forests, and caused to swear by the gods, with 
many strange and mystic ceremonies, that they would not rest until 
they had utterly destroyed the Roman army of occupation. 

An opportunity soon presented itself. In the year of our Lord 9, 
Varus received intelligence that some distant tribes were in a state 
of revolt, and immediately announced his intention of marching against 
the rebels with three legions. All the German princes promised to 
follow him, with the exception of a faithful ally named Segestes, who 
warned the Romans of treachery, and proposed that both himself and 
Arminius should be placed under arrest, until the truth or falsehood 
of his intelligence could be ascertained ; but Varus, perhaps distrust- 
ing the good faith of his informant, refused to delay the march for a 
single hour, or even to enforce the watchful discipline usually observed 
in the Roman armies during their progress through a suspected coun- 
try. As he advanced, he found the roads blockaded with trunks of 
trees, while javelins Avere hurled at him by invisible enemies from the 
midst of the thick covert : a heavy autumnal rain increased his em- 
barrassment, the roads became slippery, and the soldiers, accustomed 
to the sunny climate of Italy, were benumbed with cold. To relieve 
them. Varus ordered all the superfluous baggage to be burned, and, 
after three days of suffering, the army reached an open space in the 
Teutoburgian forest. Here the great struggle began. The rain, 
which fell in torrents, the entangled forest, and the swampy ground, 
all favoured the hardy and light-armed Germans. The Romans, it is 
true, fought with their usual courage, but they were soon separated, 
their eagle taken, and infantry as well as cavalry cut to pieces. Va- 
rus, seeing the day irretrievably lost, threw himself on his own sword. 
Of the few prisoners, some were offered up as sacrifices to the gods 
of Germany, and others sold into slavery. The exact spot on which 
this engagement took place is not precisely known, but it cannot be 
very far distant from Detmold on the Lippe. 

The panic which the intelligence of this disaster occasioned at 
Rome extended to all ranks. Augustus, now an aged man, wandered 
for many days through the apartments of his palace, dashing his head 
against the walls, and calling wildly on Varus to give him back his 
legions ; while the people, thoroughly disheartened, refused to serve 



342 



ANCIENT GERMANY. 



any more against those terrible barbarians : nor was it until many of 
them were punished with death for their disobedience that another 
army was raised, and placed under the command of Tiberius, the em- 
peror's step-son. About the same time, Germanicus, the son of Drusus, 
crossed the Rhine with a Roman army, and marched at once to the 
spot where the unfortunate Varus had fiillen. The bones of the dead, 
which still lay whitening on the ground, were collected by order of 
the general, and burnt on a funeral pile, while Germanicus, in a fierce 
harangue, called on his men to avenge the dishonour which those 
accursed barbarians had inflicted on the Roman name. lie then 
charged the German centre, which gave way, but the two wings came 
to the assistance of their comrades, and at the same moment some 
troops, starting from an ambuscade, attacked the enemy in flank so 
fiercely that the whole army of Germanicus would have been destroyed 
had not some legions been in reserve to cover his retreat, which was 
the less interrupted, as the Germans were now engaged in pillaging 
the Roman camp. 

The following year, Germanicus twice attacked and vanquished the 
Germans, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Minden ; but the cou- 
rageous barbarians rallied, and compelled the Romans to take refuge 
on board their ships, most of which were soon afterward driven 
ashore in a heavy gale of wind. Tiberius (who had succeeded Augus- 
tus on the imperial throne) now wrote to Germanicus, commanding his 
immediate return. "There had been enough," he said, "of victories 
and conquests. The Germans might now be safely left to their own 
feuds, which, in the end, would destroy them more effectually than 
Roman swords." 

" Thus," says a quaint old historian, " did the Romans abandon 
those brilliant conquests, which brought them little advantage beyond 
that of escaping in a whole skin from the German territory." 





Attila. 



THE HUNS AND THE VISIGOTHS— ALARIC AND 
ATTILA— FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 

A. D. 376—476. 




FTER the death of Armlnius, Germany re- 
mained unmolested until the year 376, when 
there appeared on the eastern frontier a bar- 
barous people named Huns, who are described 
by contemporary historians as men of low 
stature, thick-set, with broad shoulders, flat 
noses, small eyes, yellow complexion, short 
thick necks, and prominent cheek-bones. In 
their ancient country, on the steppes, or boundless plains, which lie 
between Russia and China, they led a wandering life, dwelling in tents, 
and changing their situation as often as fresh pasture was required for 
their cattle. Their hideous ugliness, (for an ancient writer compares 
them to wild beasts on two legs, or the rudely-carved posts of a 
bridge,) their countless numbers, and the skill with which they ma- 
naged their horses and threw the javelin, rendered them more formi- 
dable to the Germans than even the disciplined, but less ferocious, 
legionaries of Rome. Along the shores of the Danube, as far as the 
Black Sea, there dwelt a powerful, warlike, and comparatively civilized 
nation, called the Goths, who are said to have come originally from 

343 



344 



THE nUNS AND THE VISIGOTHS. 



Sweden, and were now divided into the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, or 
eastern and western Goths. These, being on the frontier, sustained 
the first assault of the Huns, and after twice beating back the in- 
vaders, were defeated in a third battle and almost annihilated. Of the 
■warriors who escaped, some took refuge in the mountains, and others 
threw themselves on the protection of the Emperor Valens, imploring 
him to give them lands on the other side of the Danube, where they 
might be safe from their terrible enemy. 

Valens granted their request, on condition of their laying down 
their arms, and engaging to pay honestly for all the provisions Avhich 
they might consume. Unfortunately, however, the commissioners ap- 
pointed to see this contract duly performed, not content with stripping 
the exiles of their property, treated their wives and children with 
such revolting cruelty, that the Goths, unable to restrain their fury 
at the sight of these enormities, resolved to resist at all hazards. 
During the first confusion a great number of them had crossed the 
river armed ; the rest soon resumed their weapons, and the united 
army of the eastern and western Goths marched through the country 
to the city of Adrianople, whence they were repulsed without much 
difficulty ; but in the year 378 they joined their ancient enemies the 
Huns, and overthrew the Romans in a bloody engagement, during 
which the unfortunate emperor was burnt to death in a cottage, where 
he had taken refuge, after receiving a severe wound. 

A few years later, we find the Visigoths, who had quarrelled with 
the Ostrogoths and Huns, forming a close alliance with the Romans, 
serving in their armies, but subject to their own leaders and their own 
laws. In the year of our Lord 395, the Roman empire was divided 
between the two sons of the Emperor Theodosius, the one reigning in 
Italy, the other at Constantinople. 

Among the Goths at the court of the eastern emperor was a young 
warrior, named Alaric, whom his countrymen had elected to be the 
general of their forces. In the year 409 this Alaric, who at the close 
of the preceding century had been compelled to evacuate Pelopon- 
nesus by a Vandal chief, named Stilicho, commander of the imperial 
forces at Constantinople, and had subsequently been foiled by the 
same general in an attempt on the territories of the western empire, 
entered Italy, for the second time, at the head of a numerous army, 
and without troubling himself about the western Emperor Ilonorius, 
■who was shut up in the strong fortress of Ravenna, marched at once 
to Rome, and summoned the city to surrender. The Romans sued 
for peace : but Alaric replied that the only conditions on which he 
could spare the city ■were, that he should receive 5000 pounds weight 



THE HUNS AND THE VISIGOTHS. 



345 



of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, and a proportionate quantity of the 
various articles of value with -which Rome was filled. The Romans 
remonstrated. " Such a sacrifice would beggar us," they said : " what 
should we have left?" "Your lives," retorted the Goths. "We are 
still numerous," said they in a threatening tone. " Come out then," 
was the stern reply ; " the thicker the grass, the more easily it is 
mown." Finding remonstrance and threats equally fruitless, the 
Romans at length consented to pay the required sum ; and Alaric, 
true to his promise, having drawn off his troops without committing any 
act of violence, proceeded at once to Ravenna, but, finding that city im- 
pregnable, he soon raised the siege, and a second time appeared before 
the walls of Rome. 

There is a story of his having sent three hundred Germans in the 
garb of slaves as presents to the principal Romans, and that these 
men opened the gates of the city to their countrymen. Be this as it 
may, it is certain that in the night of the 23d of August, 409, Rome 
for the first time since the days of Brennus, (b. c. 390,) saw barbarians 
within her Avails, not in the character of prisoners dragged in chains 
to feast wild beasts at the amphitheatre, or slaughter one another in 
the bloody sports of the arena, but themselves as conquerors, burning 
to avenge on Rome the injuries which they had suffered at her hands. 
Yet the Goths behaved with greater moderation than could have been 
reasonably expected, for the lives of those who w^ere unable to defend 
themselves were spared, and, contrary to the anticipations of the 
Romans, their city was not set on fire. 

From Rome, Alaric marched into southern Italy, where he embarked 
for Africa. But his fleet was wrecked at Messina during a violent 
storm, and he himself soon afterward died suddenly, in the thirty- 
fourth year of his age. They buried him in the channel of the river 
Bassano ; and as soon as the body was lowered into the grave, the 
stream, which had been previously diverted from its course, rushed 
back to its ancient bed ; and at the same moment the prisoners who 
had been employed in the work were put to death, that no record 
might remain of the burial-place of Alaric. 

The Visigoths soon found a new leader in Alaric's brother-in-law 
Ataulf, or Adolphus, who, having married the emperor's sister, with- 
drew his troops from Italy, and, passing into Gaul, founded a new 
kingdom (of which Thoulouse was the capital) in that country and 
Spain. 

In the mean time another German nation, the Vandals, taking ad- 
vantage of the imperial forces being withdrawn from Spain for the 
protection of Italy, had been establishing settlements, in conjunction 



346 THE HUNS AND THE VISIGOTHS. 



vritli other tribes, on the banks of the Ebro, and in the southwestern 
portion of the peninsuha. In the year 420, these Vandals, under the 
command of their Prince Geiseric, or Genseric, being invited into 
Africa by the treacherous Roman governor, easily made themselves 
masters of tliat province, and established the seat of government at 
Carthage, whence they despatched fleets to ravage the coasts both of 
Italy and Spain. In the jenv 455, Genseric landed in Italy and took 
Rome ; but, instead of destroying the city, he contented himself with 
sending off all its treasures to adorn his new capital,* and soon after- 
wards returned to Africa, wbere he died in extreme old age, (a. d. 478.) 

About the middle of the fifth century, Attila or Etzel, a renowned 
warrior, who had drawn to his standard not only the whole of the 
Huns, but a considerable portion of the eastern Germanic tribes, de- 
clared war against the Ostrogoths, and defeated them (a. d. 440) in a 
series of battles of which we have but imperfect accounts. The fol- 
lowing year he attacked Constantinople, and the city was only saved 
by the prudence of the emperor's mother, who bribed him with a large 
sum to withdraw his army. Then the Huns marched into Gaul, where 
they were routed with great slaughter by the united forces of the 
Goths and Romans under Theodoric and iEtius : but the following 
year they crossed the Alps, and took the town of Aquileia, the in- 
habitants of which fled to the swampy ishmds at the mouth of the 
Brenta, and founded the city of Venice. 

At length, Attilaf ("the Scoui'ge of God," as he Avns surnamed by 
the aff"righted Romans) appeared before the imperial city, and was 
preparing to batter the M"alls, when the gates were throAvu open, and 
Leo, bishop of Rome, preceded by the emI4em of our redemption, and 
followc<l by a long train of priests in their sacred robes, chanting the 
penitential psalms, came forth and advanced feailessly towards the 
camp of tlie barbai'ians. No man daring to molest him, he entered 
the general's tent, and pleaded the cause of Rome so eloquently tliat 
Attila consented to withdraw his troops. The common people, ever 
lovers of the marvellous, accounted for this prodigy by saying that, 
wliile the bishop spoke, the forms of the apostles Peter and Paul 
appeared in glory behind him, and warned the Ilun, by threatening 
gestures, not to persevere in his attack on the city which contained 
their ashes. 



* Very little of tliis booty readied the African shore, most of the ships, laden with 
the noblest works of Greek and llomau art, having foundered at sea. 

f Attila was represented by Ms enemies with horns, as in the portrait at the head 
of this article. 



THE HUNS AND THE VISIGOTHS. 



347 



^ Soon after this event, Attila died, and was buried with great pomp, 
his body being enclosed in a golden coffin, which was placed in one of 
silver, and that again in a large chest of iron. His whole army fol- 
lowed the corpse of their leader ; but when they came near to the place 
of burial, the body, like that of Alaric, was consigned to slaves, who 
were put to death as soon as they had interred it. 

Meanwhile the western throne of the Caesars was tottering to its 
fall. Goths and Vandals had stormed and sacked the imperial city. 
Germans had set up and deposed her emperors at their pleasure. She 
had had nine rulers in twenty-one years. The people, therefore, 
broken in spirit, and long accustomed to submission, made little resist- 
ance, when, in the year 476, the sceptre was wrested from the feeble 
hands of Romulus Augustulus by a soldier of fortune, named Odoacer, 
who commanded the German mercenaries in the imperial service. 
Like the body of one worn out by age, the Empire of the West sank 
into the grave almost without a struggle. 





Justinian receiving Silk-worins from the Ivlonks. 

THE BYZANTINE, OR EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE- 
JUSTINIAN— BELISARIUS. 




^HE Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, 
comprehended, at first, in Asia, the country 
on this side of the Euphrates, the coasts of 
the Black Sea and Asia Minor ; in Africa, 
Egypt ; and in Europe, all the countries 
from the Hellespont to the Adriatic and the 
Danube. This was the eastern division of 
the great Roman Empire, and it survived 
the Western Empire one thousand years, and 
was even increased by the addition of Italy and the coasts of the 
Mediterranean. It commenced in 395, when Theodosius divided the 
Roman Empire between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, giving 
the eastern portion to the elder, Arcadius, and it lasted till May 29, 
1453, when its capital, Constantinople, fell after a terrible siege by 
Mohammed II., who made the city thenceforward the metropolis of 
the Turkish Empire. 

Our limits will not permit us to notice, in this place, the wars of the 
Eastern emperors with the Huns, the Goths, the Persians, and the 
Turks, and their transactions with the Crusaders. These will fall 
under our notice incidentally in future articles. At present it is our 
purpose to refer to the reign of Justinian, (which began a. d. 521 and 
ended a. d. 565,) as it presents to our notice Belisarius, whom we take 



348 



THE EASTEKN ROMAN EMPIRE. 



349 




to be the greatest man ever produced by the Eastern Empire. Justi- 
nian, though he deserves not the title of the Great, had many 
virtues of a ruler. He was justly renowned as a legislator, his Pan- 
dects forming the basis of modern civil law ; but his reign was chiefly 
distinguished by the victories of his general, Belisarius. How unable 
Justinian was to revive the strength of his empire, is shown by its 
rapid decay after his death. It is said to have been through his 
encouragement that the manufacture of silk was introduced into 
Europe, he having received the first silk-worms from the East by the 
agency of certain monks who visited him, and imparted to him the 
invaluable secret of the silk culture. 

The chief splendour of Justinian's reign, however, is due to Beli- 
sarius, Sprung from an obscure family in Thrace, Belisarius first 
served in the body-guard of the emperor, soon after obtained the chief 
command of an army of 25,000 men stationed on the Persian frontiers, 
and, in the year 530, gained a complete victory over a Persian army 
of not less than 40,000 soldiers. The next year, however, he lost a 
battle against the same enemy, who had forced his way into Syria — 
the only battle which he lost during bis whole career. He was recalled 



350 



THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. 




Eelisarius begging his breai in the streets. 

from the army, and soon became, at home, the support of his master. 
In the year 532, civil commotions, proceeding from two rival parties, 
who called themselves the green and the blue, and Avho caused great 
disorders in Constantinople, brought the life and reign of Justinian in 
the utmost peril, and Ilypatius was already chosen emperor, when 
Belisarius, with a small body of faithful adherents, restored order. 
Justinian, with a view of conquering the dominions of Gelimer, king 
of the Vandals, sent Belisarius with an army of 15,000 men to Africa. 
After two victories, he secured the person and treasures of the Vandal 
king. Gelimer was led in triumph through the streets of Constanti- 
nople, and Justinian ordered a medal to be struck, with the inscription, 
Belisarius gloria Romanorum, Avhich has descended to our times. By 
the dissensions existing in the royal family of the Ostrogoths in Italy, 
Justinian was induced to attempt to bring Italy and Rome under his 
sceptre. Belisarius vanquished Vitiges, king of the Goths, made him 
prisoner at Ravenna, and conducted him, together with many other 
Goths, to Constantinople. The war in Italy against the Goths con- 
tinued, but Belisarius, not being sufficiently supplied with money and 
troops by the emperor, demanded his recall. He afterward engaged 



THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE. 



351 



in the war against the Bulgarians, whom he conquered in the year 559. 
Upon his return to Constantinople, he was accused of having taken 
part in a conspiracy ; but Justinian was convinced of his innocence, 
and is said to have restored to him his property and dignities, of 
which he had been deprived. Belisarius died in the year 565. His 
history has been much coloured by the poets, and particularly by 
Marmontel, in his otherwise admirable politico-philosophical romance. 
According to his narrative, the emperor caused his eyes to be struck 
out, and Belisarius was compelled to beg his bread in the streets, of 
Constantinople. Other writers say, that Justinian had him thrown 
into a prison, which is still shown under the appellation of the tower 
of Belisarius. From this tower he is reported to have let down a bag 
fastened to a rope, and to have addressed the passengers in these 
words :— " Date Belisario obolum, quem virtus evexit, invidia depres- 
sit"— (Give an obolus to Belisarius, whom virtue exalted, and envy 
has oppressed.) Of this, however, no contemporary writer makes any 
mention. Tzetzes, a slightly esteemed writer of the twelfth century, 
was the first who related this fable. Certain it is, that, through too' 
great indulgence toward his wife Antonina, Belisarius was impelled 
to many acts of injustice, and that he evinced a servile submissiveness 
to the detestable Theodora, the wife of Justinian. 






Ai-aijian Encampment. 



ARABIA— MOHAMMED. 




RABIA, or the Western Land, re- 
ceived that name from the Chal- 
deans, whose country lay to the 
eastward of the desert. Among the 
Syrians, the tribes of the wilderness 
were called Saracens, or natives of 
the East. Their original name is 
Barbar, Sons of the Desert : they 
[■^ are proud of this distinction, and 
look with contempt upon the inhabi- 
tants of cities. The Arabian penin- 
sula is formed by two gulfs which 
advance far into the land ; and the desert region to the northward 
occupies a large space between the empires of the Persians and the 
Romans. The whole extent of Arabia may be estimated at fifty-five 
thousand square miles. 

The wilderness exhibits nature dreary and destitute of life: the burn- 
ing rays of the sun ever descend without interruption through a dry 
and unclouded atmosphere : the naked hills seem stripped of their 

352 







ARABIA — MOHAMMED. 353 




Camel. 

covering by the winds, and offer unbounded prospects wnere no shelter 
refreshes the weary traveller, where no object attracts his view : an 
immeasurable space seems to spread itself out between him and the 
animate creation ; in which, here and there, under the shade of a few 
lonely palm trees, a spring of water bubbles forth and is quickly choked 
in sand. The Arab alone is acquainted with these halting-places ; he 
alone frequents them ; free, and possessing enough to satisfy his simple 
wants, he conveys hither the treasures and the slaves which he robs 
from those caravans that venture to dispute the tolls exacted by the 
great emir of the desert. 

The camel affords the only means of communication between these 
islands in the ocean of sand. This animal, like his master, learns 
from his earliest years to endure hunger, thirst, and the loss of sleep. 
He often marches three or four hundred leagues without drinkino; more 
than once in eight or ten days, and eating any thing, in the space of 
twenty-four hours, except a few thistles or stocks of wormwood. He 
often bears for weeks a load of thirteen hundred pounds, without ever 
being lightened of his burden. He constitutes the safety and the riches 
of the Arab, and is the most faithful companion of his life. While the 
camel bears double the burden of the mule, he is more frugal than an ass ; 
his flesh is not less esteemed as food than that of the calf ; the value of 
his hair rivals the finest fleece ; his dung serves for fuel : his urine 
affords sal ammoniac. A nod points out tho way to him, and a song 
reanimates his steps. 

Amid orchards on the banks of the Euphrates, the chief hamlet of 
these roving tribes, the ancient Anah stretches itself out through a 

23 



354 



ARABIA — MOHAMMED. 




Costume of the Aj'ats. 

long tract ; "where the great emir of the Bedouins at particular periods 
fixes his abode. Among the Bedouins, several families obey the au- 
thority of one sheik, the noblest and richest of their clan ; and all the 
sheiks acknowledge the supremacy and claim the protection of the 
great emir. His -capital is a moving town, which is laid out in regu- 
lar streets meeting in one spot, where the tent is spread in which the 
emir dwells. lie receives gifts from travellers, who purchase of him 
a secure and free passage through the desert. 

The celebrated schools and commercial towns of Cufa and Bassora 
lie on the confines of the desert. The names of many tribes remind 



ARABIA — MOHAMMED. 355 



US of Moses and of Job. The only enemy which the natives dread is 
the Simoom, the angel of death, a sulphureous wind which rises out 
of the wilderness, the fumes of which suffocate all the animals and men 
who fall in its way. It blows through Arabia and Africa, and is felt 
as far as Spain. 

Arabia Petrtea received its name from the town of Selah, called 
Petra by the Greeks. On the shores of the Arabian Gulf are situated 
the cities of the prophet, Medinat-al-Nabi and Mecca. 

Of Yemen, or Arabia the Happy, the shores alone have been accu- 
rately explored. We only know that the interior is inhabited by a 
people of bold and animated character, who dwell in proud independ- 
ence in their pastures, or in gardens, which produce abundantly the 
most fragrant plants, such as frankincense, balsam, cinnamon, cassia, 
and coffee. Roads have been formed for communication between the 
principal towns, and the land in their vicinity is cultivated to the tops 
of the hills. From a shrub resembling the juniper-tree, the Arabs 
gather that frankincense which smokes in the churches of Christen- 
dom and in the temples of the East. They collect coffee from a shrub 
which is said to have been transplanted from Abyssinia to the hills 
of Yemen. How little did Prosper Alpinus suspect, when he described 
this plant in Egypt about two hundred years ago, and commended 
its medicinal qualities, that it would become in a few generations the 
favourite beverage of Europe, and an article of necessity, from the 
seraglio of the Turk to the huts of SAvitzerland, a source of much good 
and evil to society ; and that physicians would write books to pro- 
scribe its use ! 

The same region so much abounds with excellent horses, that if 
there is any place which is the native seat of that noble animal, and 
which produces his race in its greatest perfection, it would seem to be 
Arabia. The steeds of the Arabs are equally beautiful, though n^t 
so large as those of Africa : they are swift as ostriches, but fit only 
for the chase. One class of Arabian horses is preserved pure in the 
breed ; Avith long and well attested registers of a remote ancestry : 
others are bred from the casual mixture of various races. They are 
the daily and nightly companions of the Arabs, who are anxious to 
keep them clean and in , good condition : they stand saddled through 
the day and feed by night. The coursers of the East, and of the 
African Moors, were brought originally from Arabia Felix. 

The shores of Yemen run down along the Arabian Gulf as far as 
the straits of Babel Mandeb, in the vicinity of which lies Okad, where 
bards in ancient times contended for the prize of poetry. Here, among 
gardens and groves of coffee, is situated Mocha, the central point of 



356 ARABIA MOHAMMED. 



Arabian commerce, in •which is the chief receipt of the customs of 
Yemen. Nearer to the end of the peninsula, important by its situa- 
tion and the excellence of its haven, Adel is seated on a promontory 
at the foot of a lofty rock. This place was visited by the Greeks and 
Romans, who sought spices also on the coast of Iladramaut, and brought 
the aloe from Socotora. Mara and Oman have been less known to 
history. 

In vain Alexander aspired to the sovereignty of Arabia, and vain 
were the efforts of the Romans. A Greek colony in Socotora may 
still be traced among the hills of that island. When Anastasius I. 
held the imperial sceptre at Constantinople, and Naowash, king of 
Ilamyar, in Yemen, who professed the Jewish faith, persecuted the 
Christians ; the Arabs were overcome by a Christian, the Negush of 
Abyssinia. Naowash, disdaining to submit, drowned himself in the 
sea. Thenceforward the African conquerors governed Yemen by 
means of deputies. 

The misfortunes of Arabia were of no long duration, yet the effect 
of them is still felt in Europe. The conquerors brought with them 
the small-pox from the poisonous Africa : they communicated it to 
the Arabs, and commerce has spread it through the world. At first 
it broke out seldom, but committed dreadful ravages. Before a hun- 
dred years had elapsed, it appeared in Italy, and made its way to 
Burgundy and to Germany. 

During these times of anarchy, while the freedom of Arabia was 
suffering under the arms of the Negush, and of Khosra Nushirvan the 
Persian monarch, Mohammed was born in the 570th year of the 
Christian era. He was descended from a family which had produced 
many chieftains and many enterprising merchants. His father, 
Abdallah, died early, and left to his mother, the Jewess Emina, five 
camels and a female slave. 

I Mohammed displayed from his infancy reflection and a fiery ima- 
gination : he was generous beyond his fortune ; compassionate, sus- 
ceptible of warm friendship, and abandoned to licentious pleasures. 
In his exterior he had that serious demeanour which distinguishes the 
oriental people ; a dignified manner ; an animated and pleasing ex- 
pression of countenance. He was of middle, stature, his limbs were 
well proportioned, and his features striking. V. 

In his twentieth year he bore arms in a sacred war, which his tribe, 
the Koreish, waged against certain bands of robbers, who disturbed 
the pilgrimage to Mecca. The black stone of the Caaba, in the great 
tower of Saba the son of Cush, had been from early times an object 
of veneration. It represented the earth, the mother of all, the central 



ARABIA MOHAMMED. 



35T 




mass, around Avliich the chaotic matter was distributed and reduced to 
order. It is still held sacred in the East. 

Five years afterward ho resorted to the fair of Damascus to sell 
the merchandise of the rich widow Chadija. His genius and address 
gained the affections of the widow, and she bestowed upon him her 
hand and fortune. As long as she lived, Mohammed treated her with 
grateful respect and irreproachable fidelity. 

Mohammed beheld with sorrow the calamities of his country, the 
abandonment of its ancient manners, and the introduction of foreign 
customs. He had learned from his mother that the Jews were still 
expecting the champion of Israel ; he had heard from the Christians 
that Jesus had promised to those who loved him the Comforter, who 
should lead them into all truth. He was persuaded, by the sugges- 



358 ARABIA — MOHAMMED. 



tions of his own mind, that he was the person who was capahle of 
restoring happiness to the nations. In the fortieth year of his age 
happened the night of the decree of God, in which Gabriel, one of the 
archangels, as he believed, or as he declared, called him to be a pro- 
phet of the Most High, (a. d, GIO.) This event he related to Chadija, 
and to Varaca, his father-in-law. His words inflamed them with holy 
zeal, and they swore " by that God, in whose hand is the soul of Cha- 
dija and Varaca, Mohammed is the prophet of God." 

Immediately his cause was embraced by the young Ali, grandson 
of the chief Abutaleb, '■'■the first of the witnesses," who received in 
marriage the daughter of the prophet. The old, respectable, and 
upright Abubeker soon joined himself to the party. 
I Often, when he was seized by fits of epilepsy, Mohammed fancied 
that he heard the voice of angels^^The prophet began in sincerity, 
led astray by his fancied gift ; but iraud and violence enabled him to 
accomplish what piety and praiseworthy motives induced him to at- 
tempt. 1 He expected to succeed to the office of guardian of the sacred 
stone ; but the zeal of party excited a tumult which threatened his 
life. Mohammed fled in disguise and closely pursued from Mecca, 
and escaped through the groves of palm-trees to Yatreb, where the 
Jews had secured in his interest the chief men of the city. From that 
day,* which was the 16th of July, in the 622d year of our era, the 
Moslem compute the succession of time ; this is the epoch of the 
Hejira, which Omar instituted in the year 639. The prophet was 
welcomed at Yatreb by five hundred disciples, and that town received 
the title of Medinat-al-Nabi, the prophetic city. 

Islam, the religion which Mohammed promulgated, contains these 
dogmas, — that there is one God, and that Mohammed is his prophet, 
by whom the law of Moses and of Jesus is perfected and accomplished. 
He published no new tenets, but only adorned and exhibited in a form 
adapted to the ideas, prejudices, and inclinations of the orientals, that 
doctrine which is as ancient as the human race. He moreover en- 
joined many ablutions, well suited to the manners and necessities of 
the hotter climates : he ordained five daily prayers, that man might 
learn habitually to elevate his thoughts above himself, and above the 
sensible world : he instituted the festival of the Ramadan and the 
pilgrimage to Mecca, and commanded that every man should bestow 
in alms the one hundredth part of his possessions ; for these obser- 
vances already existed in established custom, or in the circumstances 
which gave occasion to their enactment. In like manner the prohi- 

* Or rather from the commencement of the year, sixty-eight days before. 



ARABIA — MOHAMMED. 359 



bition of wine and the flesh of swine, circumcision, and the Friday's 
sabbath are partly more ancient, and in part new, or rather recom- 
mended than strictly ordained. He established a law adapted to 
circumstances, a religion for countries, in which the sublimity of Islam 
produced a greater impression than the subtle frivolities which then 
divided the theologians of the Christian church. Enthusiasm joined 
its influence, and elevated the soul of the true believer above the whole 
visible world, above the power of perishable things, and above the fear 
of death itself. While an abject superstition debased the subjects of 
the Byzantine empire, the soul of the Arab was kindled into fervour 
by the elevated simplicity of a doctrine which opposed few checks to 
the vehemence of his passions. 

Its power was first displayed in a war in which the prophet over- 
threw his enemies at Mecca. At the village of Beder, where the 
Moslem pilgrims still offer up adorations, he obtained the first victory. 
Happy was he esteemed who had fallen for the true faith ! He had 
departed to endless enjoyment in fragrant and shady groves, where 
beautiful black-eyed vii'gins awaited him, where heavenly youths 
sprinkled him with water of the roses of Paradise from goblets of 
pearl and gold. 

After the conquest of Mecca, his command was sent to Heraclius, 
emperor of Constantinople, to Khosru Parviz, the king of Persia, to 
the Arabian emirs, to the Negush, and the governor of Egypt : " In 
the name of him who formed heaven and earth, and who ordained 
Islam from eternity to endless ages, believe in Mohammed, teacher 
of the divine and universal law." Arabia willingly received his com- 
mand, and acknowledged that he restored the faith of her patriarchs. 
The chieftain, Chalid, marched against the unbelievers at the head 
of three thousand men, and defeated an army of twenty thousand. 
In the cause of the Lord of heaven and earth, fear found no place, 
especially when the prophet declared that the end of his mortal career 
is predestined from eternity to every man in the counsels of Provi- 
dence. 

When Mecca had become obedient, and all Arabia paid him reve- 
rence, Mohammed commanded Islam to be carried into every country, 
and all nations to be united by arms or by faith. The prophet having 
been poisoned, as it was believed, in the sixty-third year of his age, 
departed into the presence of that Eternal Being whose unity and 
goodness he caused, by the exertions of his whole life, to become the 
faith of more than half the ancient world. 




Charles Martel. 



FRANCE— CHARLES MARTEL. 



RANGE derives its name from a German 
tribe called the Franks, who, in the third 
and fourth centuries of the Christian era, 
got possession of the northern part of the 
country Avhich the Romans had called 
Gaul, and which they had conquered and 
settled in Julius Cnesar's time. Their 
first king, Pharamond, died in 428. His 
grandson, Meroveus, who died in 458, 
founded the Merovingian dynasty, which 
reigned in France about three hundred 
years. Their most eminent king, Glovis, 
drove the Romans out of France, subdued 
Brittany, subjected Burgundy to tribute, 
took provinces from the Visigoths in the 
south of France, and extended his con- 
quests northward to the Rhine. Glovis 
became a Christian in 496. At his death, in 511, France was divided 
among his four sons, and, of course, dissensions followed. After the 
death of Gharibert, prince of Paris, (509,) France was divided into 
three provinces, or states, — Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy. 

The weakness and incapacity of the Prankish kings had given to 
certain officers of their household almost unlimited power in peace as 

SCO 




FRANCE — CHARLES MARTEL. 361 



well as in war ; and this power was the more firmly maintained, as 
they contented themselves with the substantial authority, without lay- 
ing claim to the splendour of the kingly office. 

The sovereigns, indeed, were generally too happy to intrust the 
cares of state to an able minister, while they themselves did little else 
(according to old Gregory of Tours) but gormandize like brute beasts, 
except now and then signing a state paper, and exhibiting themselves 
in their royal robes on days of ceremony. By degrees, these mayors 
of the palace (majores domus, as they are called by historians,) became 
in France what the commanders of the Prostorian guard had been in 
the latter days of the Roman empire. Being generally men of talent 
and enterprise, and supported by the nobles, they continued to exer- 
cise sovereign authority without the name ; for it was only by slow 
degrees, and after the office had been a long time hereditary in one 
family, that the mayors of the palace possessed themselves of the title 
and dignity of king. 

In the year 622 Chlotar II. appointed his son Dagobert king of 
Austrasia, and assigned him, as his major domus, Pepin of Landon, 
who had already distinguished himself in the struggle against Brune- 
hild. An attempt was made by Grimwald, the son of this Pepin, to 
place his own son on the throne ; but, although he succeeded in de- 
posing the king, and banishing him to a convent in Ireland, he him- 
self, with his unfortunate son, was shortly afterward murdered, and 
Clovis II. was elected by the clergy and vassals king of all France. 

At his death, in 656, the kingdom was again divided, and many 
years of anarchy and bloodshed succeeded ; until, in 687, Pepin of 
Ileristal, a great grandson of the first Pepin, having gained a complete 
victory in the battle of Testri, compelled Theodoric III. to recognise 
him as general and governor of all France. This dignity he bequeathed 
to his son Chaides, known in history by the surname of Martel, or the 
Hammer. The condition of France at the accession of this renowned 
chief in 714 was likely to furnish full employment for all the energy 
both of mind and body, which he possessed in no ordinary degree. A 
few years before this period, there had landed in Spain (by the invi- 
tation of Count Julian, whose daughter had been seduced by Roderic, 
the Gothic king) a horde of Saracens, or Arabians, from the northern 
coast of Africa. These foreigners had completely overthrown the 
Visigoths in a bloody battle at Xeres de la Frontera, and founded an 
independent kingdom in the south of Spain. In the year 732 there 
dwelt on the frontiers of France and Spain a chieftain named Duke 
Eudo of Acquitania, who had long cherished hopes of becoming an in- 
dependent sovereign. The Neustrians and Austrasians being at this 



362 FRANCE — CHARLES MARTEL. 



time at variance, Eudo conceived the idea of calling in the Moors to 
assist him in the conquest of France, and, as a pledge of his sincerity, 
gave his daughter to one of their princes named Muiloz ; but as soon 
as Abder-haman, the Moorish commander-in-chief, saw her, he over- 
whelmed her father with reproaches for having given so fair a maiden 
to a subject, instead of reserving her for the harem of the caliph, 
ordered the right hand of Muiloz to be cut off, as unworthy to touch 
her, and sent the lady under an escort to Damascus. The outraged 
father took the field with an army, but being defeated on the banks of 
the river Garonne, no choice remained to him but to seek the protec- 
tion of Charles Martel. The cause was that of Christendom, for the 
followers of INIohammed openly declared that the object of all their 
campaigns was to plant the crescent, at whatever cost of blood and 
suffering, on the ruins of the cross of Christ. Austrasians, Nether- 
landers, the dv/ellers on the Rhine, Thuringians, Swabians, Bavarians, 
and even Lombards from beyond the Alps, flocked to the standard of 
Charles. 

In the year 732 the two armies met between Tours and Poitiers, 
and a fierce engagement began. The Frankish warriors, particularly 
those of the north, nobly sustained the old German reputation. In 
vain did squadron after squadron of the fierce Moors, mounted on the 
fleet horses of Barbary, and shrieking their war-cry of "Allah and 
Mohammed !" rush to the charge, reckless of death, as those who 
believed that eternal happiness would be the lot of all who should die 
in battle against the Christians. The Franks, better armed and more 
thoroughly disciplined, mowed them down like grass. The Moorish 
general, Abder-haman, fell ; and at least 375,000 Saracens were left 
with him dead on the field. Christendom was saved, and the barba- 
rians retreated hastily across the Pyrenees. It was in this battle that 
Charles obtained his surname of Martel, from the fury with Avhich his 
heavy iron mace hammered down the Saracens. Six years later the 
Moors again entered France by sea, but were totally defeated in the 
battle of Narbonne, and never again attempted to cross the frontier. 

Charles Martel died in 741, leaving two sons, Pepin the Short and 
Carloman, the latter of whom soon afterward retired into a convent, 
when Pepin became sole major domus of France. The royal family 
of that country had long since dwindled into little more than a name, 
and Pepin, who had distinguished himself in a war with the Saxons, 
and whose sagacity as a statesman was by no means inferior to his 
military experience, saw that the time had noAV arrived for executing 
the plan which his ancestor had attempted unsuccessfully, of supplant- 
ing the Merovingians, and placing his own family on the throne. In 



FRANCE — CHARLES MARTEL. 



363 



pursuance of this design, the nobility were gained over by grants of 
land, and the co-operation of the clergy having also been secured by 
promises of immunities and endowments, Pepin boldly proposed the 
following question to Pope Zacharias : " Whether of the two is worthy 
of the title and dignity of king, he who sits idly at home, or he who 
bears the burden and cares of government?" The pope, of course, 
pronounced in favour of Pepin, who soon afterward was elected king 
of France, in an assembly of the people held at Soissons, where Clo- 
vis, two hundred and sixty-six years before, had laid the foundation 
of this powerful monarchy in his victory over the Suessones. Thus 
was the family of the Merovingians supplanted by a new power, which, 
from Charles Martel, the father of Pepin, or perhaps from Charle- 
magne, has been named the dynasty of the Carlovingians. The reign 
of Pepin the Short was signalized by his victories in Italy over the 
Lombards, who, alarmed at the alliance between the king of France 
and the pope, had attacked the latter in his capital. As a reward 
for his services, Pepin was nominated exarch of Rome and Kavenna, 
with the title of Protector of the Holy City; and thus, in the alliance 
of the temporal and spiritual powers, was laid the foundation of that 
grievous tyranny under which Germany afterward groaned for so 
many centuries. Pepin died of dropsy, on the 24th September, 768, 
leaving behind him two sons — Carloman, who received Neustria as his 
portion, and Charles, (afterward known in history as Charlemagne, 
or Charles the Great,) who inherited Austrasia. 





FRANCE AND GERMANY— CHARLEMAGNE, THE 
FIRST GERMANIC-ROMAN EMPEROR. 

A. D. 771-814. 

N accident having deprived Carloman of life in the 
year 771, his brother became king of all France, and 
commenced a career of success to which history pre- 
sents few parallels. To a restless activity of body, 
^j-^Sti^^ which made every hour appear tedious unless employed 
in combating his enemies, or in the organization of his 
empire at home, Charlemagne united a creative spirit, which, during 
the forty-three years of his reign, changed the condition not only of 
France, but of all Europe. With him closes the history of ancient 
Germany. All the old free states and kingdoms were incorporated 
into one mighty empire, and, with the new name, the people adopted 

364 




CHARLEMAGNE. 365 



new views and a new character. Scarcely had Charlemagne ascended 
the throne of all France, when an attempt on the part of Desiderius, 
king of the Lombards, to extort from the pope the recognition of 
Carloman's sons, whom their uncle had deprived of Neustria, furnished 
him with an excuse for entering Italy by the. pass of Mont Cenis, 
while his uncle Bernard attempted to cross the Alps at the spot which 
was then Mons Jovis, but which has since been called after his name, 
the Great St. Bernard. As the Frankish army advanced, the people 
fled for refuge into their fortified cities, while Desiderius, shut up in 
his capital of Pavia, awaited the coming of that renowned hero, the 
bare mention of whose name had spread such dismay among his sub- 
jects. At length Charlemagne appeared before the gates of Pavia ; 
and old chroniclers relate that as Desiderius reconnoitred the Frank- 
ish army from a high tower, and saw the gigantic form of his enemy 
sheathed in bright armour, and mounted on a charger which seemed, 
like its master, to be an animated statue of ii-on, his heart sank within 
him, and he exclaimed in a melancholy tone to his attendants — " Let 
us descend and hide ourselves in the earth from the angry face of so 
terrible a foe." After several months' siege, want of food having 
compelled the garrison to surrender at discretion, Charlemagne sent 
the king, as one who had proved himself unworthy of a throne, to end 
his days in the monastery of Corvey, and placed on his own head the 
ancient iron crown of the kingdom of Lombardy. The same year he 
visited Rome, and, dismounting at the distance of a thousand paces 
from the walls, walked in procession to the church of St. Peter on the 
Vatican hill, kissing the steps in succession as he ascended, in honour 
of the saints by whose feet they had been trodden. In the vestibule 
of the church he was received by the pope, who embraced him with 
great affection, the choir chanting the psalm, " Blessed is he who 
Cometh in the name of the Lord." Then they descended into the 
vaults, and offered up their prayers together at the shrine of St. Peter. 
Meanwhile the Lombards, far from submitting patiently to the yoke 
of a foreign master, had placed Adalgisius, the son of Desiderius, on 
his father's throne. But might again prevailed over justice, and the 
unhappy prince was compelled to save his life by going into exile ; 
while of all the Lombardic cities, Venice alone bade defiance to the 
conqueror, beat back his armies from her walls, and retained her 
freedom. 

While success thus attended the arms of Charlemagne in Italy, his 
power was withstood on the other side of the Alps by the Saxons ; a 
brave but savage race, who for centuries had been engaged at intervals 
in sanguinary struggles with the Frankish sovereigns. 



866 CHARLEMAGNE. 



Attempts had often been made to convert them to Christianity ; but 
the people adhered with greater obstinacy to heathenism, because con- 
version presented to their minds the idea of enslavement ; and repeated 
endeavours to Christianize them by force had stained the banks of the 
Rhine with blood during the dynasty of the Merovingians. It was in 
the month of May, 772, that Charlemagne held a council of his king- 
dom at Worms, at which war with the Saxons was unanimously voted. 
Religion was the pretext for this act of tyrannical injustice. The 
Franks had sent a missionary to preach to the Saxons at their great 
feast at Marklo, and since kindness and persuasion had failed to con- 
vert these obstinate unbelievers, they were willing, like their fathers 
of old, to try the effect of fire and sword ; a feeling which Charlemagne 
encouraged wdth the view of rendering the war popular, as being the 
cause of God and his church. With the king at their head, the Frank- 
ish army crossed the Rhine and drove all before them as far as the 
Weser, but Charlemagne being soon afterward called off to suppress 
an insurrection in Lombardy, the Saxons rose as one man, and were 
again defeated with great slaughter. And thus for more than thirty 
years, under the command of Wittekind, duke of Westphalia, they 
made head against their oppressors, rallying after every murderous 
defeat, and meeting in the depths of gloomy forests, where they swore 
irreconcilable enmity to the Franks on the altars of their ancient gods. 
It was not until their forces were completely exhausted by two bloody 
engagements, that their leaders, Wittekind and Alboin, came to 
Attigny, in France, and voluntarily received the sacrament of baptism. 
The vulgar, as they are wont in such cases, ascribed the conversion 
of the former to a miracle. <' Wittekind," says the legend, "visited 
Wolmirstadt in the disguise of a beggar, and, happening to enter the 
church, saw in the midst of the consecrated wafer the figure of a child 
clothed in white raiment ; and so he at once acknowledged the truth 
of that religion which he had before rejected." In the year 803, a 
treaty of peace was signed at Selz, on the Saale. Paganism, which 
had formerly been forbidden on pain of death, was again prohibited, 
but in other respects the ancient constitution of the Saxons remained 
unaltered, it being expressly stipulated that the two nations should be 
considered in all respects equal. Five years later, however, Wittekind 
having fallen by the hand of an assassin, his dukedom was divided by 
Charlemagne into eight bishoprics. We must now take a short review 
of the other conquests of Charlemagne during the thirty-two years 
which were principally occupied by this struggle. In 778, he entered 
Spain on the invitation of Ihn-al-Arabi, emir or lord of Saragossa, 
and wrested from the Moors the whole of the country east of the Ebro, 



CHARLEMAGNE. 867 



erecting Catalonia into a Frankish dukedom, and reinstating Ihn-al- 
Arabi in the government of Saragossa, from which he had been 
deposed bj the dominant Moorish party. The principal general in 
this expedition was Roland, the hero of Frankish song, -who fell in a 
skirmish while threading the defile of Roncesvalles. 

The next year Charlemagne took Majorca and Minorca from the 
Moors, and would probably have driven them out of Europe altogether, 
could he have spared a sufficient force from the Saxon wars for that 
purpose. In 787, the duke of Benevento, whose territories extended 
from Naples to Brindisi, acknowledged him as his liege lord, and took 
the oath of fealty at Salerno ; and a few years later the Avares, Poles, 
and Bohemians were subdued and made tributary to the Frankish 
crown. The princes or chams of the Avares had erected in Hungary 
fortresses of a peculiar construction, composed of circles of walls, one 
within another, which they believed to be impregnable. After a des- 
perate struggle, the most renowned of these ring-forts, as they were 
called, was carried by storm, and the rich booty Avhich it contained 
sent to Charlemagne, who immediately presented half of it to the 
pope. At the taking of this fortress, a Swabian knight, named Count 
Gerold, distinguished himself by such acts of intrepid bravery, that 
the king granted to the Swabians the privilege of leading the attack 
in all future campaigns ; and another warrior of the same nation im- 
paled, as popular tales relate, seven of the Avares at once on his long 
spear, an exploit which procured for him among the soldiers the sur- 
name of Einheer, a hero whom the ancient legends of the North 
represent as dwelling with Odin in the halls of Walhalla. 

These victories of Charlemagne had changed the political constitu- 
tion of a large portion of Europe. From the Ebro to the Raab and 
Theiss, and from Benevento to the Eyder, all the German tribes, with 
the exception of the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians who occu- 
pied Norw^ay, Denmark, and Sweden, were, for the first time, united 
under one head. To these were joined the Romans of the Western 
Empire, and a considerable portion of the Sclavonians and Avares ; so 
that the dominions of Charlemagne were more extensive than those 
of the Roman emperors had ever been. The whole of this mighty 
kingdom had one religion, which formed a wall of separation from the 
Mohammedans in Spain, Africa, and Asia, on the one side, and the 
heathenish Normans, Sclavonians, and Avares, on the other. Italians 
and Germans, forgetting their former hatred of each other, were now 
united to defend their church against the attacks of all enemies, 
whether Mohammedan, pagan, or heretical like the inhabitants of the 
Eastern Empire. The descendants of the ancient Romans, however, 



868 CHARLEMAGNE. 



although thus incorporated Avith the Germans, still remembered the 
days when Rome was mistress of the world. What could he more 
natural than that Charlemagne, who now governed the land whence 
the emperors had once sent out their decrees to the uttermost parts of 
the earth, and whose dominions might vie with those which they pos- 
sessed in the most palmy days of Rome, should conceive the idea of 
re-establishing the imperial throne ? 

It was during a visit of the pope to Charlemagne at Paderborn, 
in the year 799, that this plan seems to have been first discussed. 
The next year the king of the Franks went to Rome, and received 
from the hands of Pope Leo III. the crown which was destined for 
one thousand and six years to be the symbol of German unity, while 
the assembled people shouted, " Long life and victory to Carolus 
Augustus, the great and peace-bringing Roman emperor, whom God 
hath crowned !" 

But Charlemagne had still higher views. In the hope of placing 
on his head the crown of the East as well as that of the West, he sent 
ambassadors to Constantinople, to demand the hand of the widowed 
Empress Irene ; but on their arrival they found that her throne had 
been usurped by Nicephorus, who was so little pleased at such a pro- 
posal, that he treated the envoys with indignity ; in return for which, 
(as we are told by a gossiping old chronicler, the Monk of St. Gall,) 
his own ambassadors were sorely mocked and misused by the emperor 
three years later at Selz. During the lifetime of his father, Charle- 
magne had been contracted to Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius, 
king of Lombardy ; but growing tired of his bride, he abandoned her 
soon after their marriage. 

Shortly before the conclusion of peace with the Saxons in the year 
799, Charlemagne held a splendid court at Paderborn, which was 
attended by all the nobles and ladies of his kingdom, including his own 
beautiful daughters, who delighted the people by the skill with which 
they managed their horses, as they rode daily to the chase. The 
renowned Harun al Raschid, caliph of Bagdad, sent him a costly tent, 
an elephant named Abulabaz, (the ravager,) and a water-clock of cu- 
rious workmanship, containing twelve little brazen balls, one of which 
fell at the end of every hour into a basin of the same metal placed 
underneath, while at the same time a window opened, and figures of 
knights, from one to twelve in n^imber, according to the time of the 
day, started out and performed various evolutions in front of the ma- 
chine. These presents were intended as a testimonial of the eastern 
monarch's regard for a prince who, like himself, was an enemy of the 
rebellious Moorish usurpers in Spain. But the sight most gratifying 



CHARLEMAGNE. 1 r 369 



to the Franks was the arrival of the pope, who came from Rome to 
implore the aid of Charlemagne against the anti-Frankish party, from 
whom he had received personal ill-treatment. Meeting in the neigh- 
bourhood of an ancient fountain, which in pagan times had been con- 
secrated to some god of the forest or the stream, the spiritual and 
temporal sovereigns embraced, in presence of the disgusted Saxons, 
many of whom, being still heathens, were not unnaturally disposed to 
regard this interview as another public insult to the religion of their 
country. It was here that the question was debated, as we have 
already mentioned, of re-establishing the imperial dignity in the person 
of Charlemagne. 

On assuming the imperial crown, Charlemagne had declared that 
he bore the temporal sword only; the spiritual was intrusted to the 
pope, as the representative of St. Peter, to whom the Saviour had 
given the keys of his kingdom ; the empire, therefore, being in this 
sense subject to the head of the church, was called "holy," and the 
words Germanic-Roman were added to express the parts of which it 
was composed. The whole fabric of Charlemagne's dominion was 
founded on the feudal or vassalage system, which had been partially 
introduced by Clovis, Avhose policy it had been to diminish, as much 
as possible, the number of those who held independent freeholds, by 
offering them every inducement to become vassals of the crown. The 
power of these proprietors was in consequence so weakened, that 
Charlemagne found no difficulty in reducing them at one stroke to 
the condition of vassalage, by causing all male persons without dis- 
tinction, who had attained the age of twelve years, to swear that 
" they would in future obey the emperor in the same manner as a 
vassal is bound to obey his lord." Thus Charlemagne became feudal 
lord of the whole empire ; all his subjects, of whatever rank, being 
his vassals. The emperor himself was the central point from which 
all the acts of his government issued ; the more important letters were 
written by his own hand, and sealed Avith a seal which was set in the 
hilt of his sword. He would then place the letter in the hands of the 
proper officer, saying, " There is my order, and here (pointing to his 
sword) is that which will enforce obedience to it." 

The encouragement which he gave to agriculture, and his efforts to 
promote its improvement, deserve our warmest commendation. His 
own estates were patterns of neatness, and were managed according 
to a written code of instructions drawn up by himself; the cultivation 
of the vine, as well as of other fruit-trees, and the rearing of cattle, 
being carried on with a success which greatly improved the revenues 
of the crown. Charlemagne also directed his attention to the advance- 

24 



370 CHARLEMAGNE. 



ment of trade and manufactures, bringing, with that view, a consider- 
able number of artisans out of Italy, (where commerce still flourished,) 
and encouraging, by every means in his power, their intercourse with 
his people. Bridges were thrown over the rivers, markets were esta- 
blished, the most burdensome imposts removed, and no fresh taxes 
levied except such as Avere supposed to be actually beneficial to trade 
by protecting it against foreign competition. 

But the object which he had most at heart was the support and 
propagation of Christianity. Wherever the doctrines of the gospel 
had already taken root, the old bishoprics and churches were settled 
on firmer grounds than before, and new establishments formed in 
countries of which the inhabitants were yet unconverted. The church 
was governed by four archbishops and twenty-seven bishops, all of 
whom were elected by the Christian community and clergy, and con- 
firmed in their office by the emperor. In order to insure the regular 
education of the clergy, all bishops were required to entertain a 
certain number of spiritual persons, who dwelt in one house near the 
church, and were called, from the Greek word hanon, (a rule,) canonici 
or canons. These establishments, as well as the schools afterwards 
founded by Charlemagne, were iinder the immediate superintendence 
of the bishop himself, who was expected to instruct and exhort his 
clergy as occasion might require. 

In the year 813, the emperor, on returning from his usual hunting 
party in the forest of Ardennes, was attacked by an illness so violent 
as to threaten immediate dissolution. Rallying a little, he assembled 
the diet of the empire at Aix-la-Chapelle in the autumn of the same 
year ; and addressing his son Lewis, who stood with him before the 
high altar of the cathedral, he exhorted him to fear God and to love 
him, to defend the church, to be kind to his relations, to honour the 
priests, and love his people as his children ; to choose none but men 
of irreproachable character for his ministers, and to keep a conscience 
void of offence both towards God and towards man. After this exhor- 
tation he added, "Wilt thou, my son, fulfil all this?" To which the 
prince replied, " By God's help I will." Then the emperor com- 
manded him to take the crown from ofi" the altar and place it on his 
own head. 

The following year his disease became more violent, and wasted his 
strength so rapidly, that on the fifth day he received the holy com- 
munion ; and having commended his soul to God, folded his hands, 
and in a few minutes ceased to breathe, (Jan. 28, 814.) Many pro- 
digies had given warning (as men believed) of the approaching event. 
For seven successive days black spots were observed on the sun's disc. 



CHARLEMAGNE. 



371 



The portico which Charlemagne had constructed as a means of com- 
munication between his palace and the cathedral of Aix fell down 
with a terrible crash. The wooden bridge over the Rhine, at Mainz, 
which had been ten years in building, was utterly destroyed by fire 
in three hours. Repeated shocks of earthquakes were felt at Aix. 
The cathedral was struck by lightning, and the words " Carolus Im- 
perator" obliterated from an inscription which had been placed there 
in honour of its founder. Charlemagne was buried at Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle, in the cathedral of the Blessed Virgin, which he himself had 
founded. After being embalmed in the usual manner, the body, 
instead of being laid in a coffin, was placed in a sitting posture on a 
golden throne, girt with a golden sword, the book of the Gospels in 
its hand, the imperial robe on the shoulders, and the face covered 
with a cere-cloth spread underneath the diadem. Over his tomb a 
gilded arch was erected, with a statue and this inscription : — " In this 
sepulchre rests the body of Charles, the great and orthodox emperor, 
who nobly enlarged the kingdom of the Franks, and reigned happily 
during forty-seven years. He died in his seventieth year, on the 
28th day of January, 814." 




Saxon Ship of the time oi' Charlemagne. 




Pelayo 




SPAIN— ITS CONQUEST BY THE MOORS. 

^IIE aborigines of Spain "were Iberians and 
Celts, who immigrated to that 
country at an unknown period. 
The Celts having, in the course 
of time, intermingled with the 
Iberians, were called Celtiberi- 
ans. They were conquered by 
the Phoenicians, who came to 
occupy the gold and silver 
mines, which they compelled the natives to work for them. Next 
came the Carthaginians, who made slaves of the people, as did their 
successors, the Romans, who, between the years 206 and 25 b. c, 
gradually conquered the whole peninsula, and parcelled it out into 
provinces with Latin names. When the Roman Empire was con- 
quered by the hordes of barbarians from the north, Spain was occu- 
pied by successive tribes, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals. The Vandals, 
in 428, emigrated to Africa, and conquered Barbary. In 414, the 
Visigoths invaded Spain, drove out the Alans and Sueves and the 
remnants of the Romans, and in the sixth century were masters of the 
whole peninsula. 

In the eighth century, Spain and the south of France were still 
under the dominion of the Visigoths, whose power would have been 

372 



SPAIN — ITS CONQUEST BY THE MOORS. 373 



invincible if they had known how to obey their rulers. But the throne 
of the Visigoths was shaken by faction : their kings were not accus- 
tomed to govern by the maxims of tyrants, or they would have been 
more able to suppress sedition. No sooner had Rodrigo hurled from 
the throne and put out the eyes of king Vitiza, who held his nobles 
under an iron sceptre, than a Spanish count invited Musa Ebn Nasir, 
the Arabian governor of Africa, across the straits, (a. d. 710.) It has 
been rumoured that king Rodrigo had violated the sister of the count, 
but it is more probable that the calamity of Spain had its origin in the 
spirit of faction. 

In the seventh year of Walid Ebn Abdulmalik, commander of the 
faithful, Musa intrusted to his general, Tarich, or Tarif, an army of 
Arabs, Moors, and Berbers, or wanderers of Africa. At the spot 
where he passed the strait, a rocky hill rises 1400 feet above the sea, 
which it overhangs with a precipitous cliff toward the north and east, 
while the side which faces the extreme point of Europe has a more 
gradual descent. This height Tarif fortified, (a. d. 712.) It was his 
rock ; Gebel Tarif, or Gibraltar ; and he thence extended his incur- 
sions through the country. At length a battle took place at Xerez, 
where Rodrigo fought for the crown, the freedom, and the faith of the 
Visigoths, against Tarif and Musa, Islam, and the ferocity of the 
Moslem, (a. d. 713.) Long and bloody was the contest. Rodrigo 
fought heroically, till the betrayer who had invited the Arabs, with 
Oppas, archbishop of Seville, expecting that the foreigners would only 
assist one party of Spaniards against the other, went over to the 
enemy. The flower of the army perished, together with their king, 
and the kingdom of the Visigoths, divided and without a master, fell 
under the yoke of the Mohammedans. The latter extended their arms 
from sea to sea, and across the Pyrenean bulwark ; they conquered 
Narbonne, Carcassonne, and the country on the farther side, as far as 
the Rhone and Lyons. Many old and flourishing cities were destroyed 
by them, and new ones built on the same territory. In other respects, 
they established the constitution of things which they found, only the 
commander of the faithful held the place of the king. The national 
assemblies, the nobles, the courts of judicature, and the laws remained. 
The Christians obtained a toleration for their worship, and were only 
forbidden from speaking against the faith of Islam. The tribute, or 
land-tax, was a tenth part of the revenue in those towns and countries 
which capitulated, and a fifth part in those which were subdued by 
arms. The product of both was given to the lieutenant of the caliph. 

The Visigoths were unable to endure the command which enjoined 
them to refrain from disputing the faith of the conqueror, and thereby 



374 SPAIN — ITS CONQUEST BY THE MOORS. 



obtain the crown of martyrdom ; and the bishops in vain attempted to 
restrain the indiscreet effusions of holy zeal. Some who disdained all 
submission fled to the mountains of Asturia ; these were chiefly the 
nobles and the sons of the nobles. From the Pyrenees a long chain 
of hills stretches to Cape Finisterre, the extreme point of Gallicia. 
Ansena, one of these hills, afforded refuge to a troop of a thousand 
Goths, who sought hiding-places in the caverns of our Lady of Caba- 
donga, and acknowledged Pelayo, a distinguished warrior, as their 
chieftain, (a. d. 718.) The story is not free from the exaggerations of 
national vanity ; yet Asturia enjoys, as the ancient asylum of the 
noble Goths, certain liberties which had no other origin than the 
achievements of her sons ; and the hamlet of Gijon, on the coast, 
scarcely observed by the enemy, became the root of a lasting monarchy, 
which grew up among the mountains. The chiefs conquered Oviedo 
and Leon ; and it came to pass, after a contest of two hundred years, 
that Ordungo the Second found himself sufiiciently powerful to restore 
the royal authority at Leon, (a. d. 914.) 

Political calamities were advantageous to the virtues and the genius 
of the Visigoths. A long war, waged with various fortunes, against 
enemies far more powerful, forced them to a glorious exertion of valour 
and heroism ; and they witnessed, among their conquerors, arts more 
perfect than those of barbarous Europe, and were taught by them to 
know the value of the conveniences and embellishments of life. 





A Ship of the Northmen. 



SCANDINAVIA— THE NORTHMEN. 




HE name of Nortlimen, as well as Scan- 
dinavians, is commonly given to the 
former inhabitants of Norway, Sweden, 
Denmark, Finland, and the adjacent 
isles. The daring and intrepid seamen 
of these countries harassed by their 
piracies the shores of Armorica, and 
defied the power of the Roman empire. 
In navigation they were miUch superior to the people of the Mediter- 
ranean, and ventured thousands of miles on the stormy seas of the 
north, in their small vessels. 

The history of the Northmen before the time of Alfred the Great 
of England is surrounded with the mists of fable. But it is believed, on 
strong evidence, that they discovered Ireland in the seventh century ; 
and it is certain that they made many piratical descents upon the 
coast of that island in the course of the next century. 

At a later period, (a. d. 964,) the Northmen took possession of the 
isles of Shetland, Jetland or Hialtland, which constituted for some 
time a part of the earldom of the Orkneys. These pirates obtained 
a perfect acquaintance with this archipelago : they hunted down and 
exterminated the original inhabitants, called Peti or Papge, who were 
probably the Picti of the ancients. They added to this insular do- 
minion a considerable portion of the north of Scotland ; and their 

375 



376 



SCANDINAVIA. 




Landing of the Northmen in Auierica. 



monuments are still among the most conspicuous in tlic highlands of 
that kingdom. 

The Northmen made the conquest of the Hebrides in the year 893, 
and gave them the name of the Sudcr-E3'er, or Southern Isles, in re- 
lation to the Orkneys. The Suder-Eycr were united with the Isle of 
Man in the same kingdom, and under the same ecclesiastical authority; 
hence the bishopric of Sodor has been since always nominally united 
with that of Man. All these conquests made among the British 
islands remained dependent on the kingdom of Norway till the latter 
half of the thirteenth century. 

But the old Icelandic chronicles relate, moreover, that the North- 
men discovered in the ninth century, to the west of Ireland, a great 
country, to which they gave the name of Great Ireland, or the White- 



THE NORTHMEN. 



377 




Northmen trading ■with the Esquimaux. 

man's Land. This alleged discovery is generally ranged by critics 
among fabulous traditions. 

About 861, the Scandinavians visited the Feroe Islands, and soon 
afterward, some adventurers of the same nation were thrown by a 
tempest on the eastern coast of Iceland, which the Northmen then 
colonized. The discovery of Iceland was the stepping-stone to fur- 
ther developments. 

One Eric Rauda, or Eric the Red, the son of Thorwald, a Norwe- 
gian noble, quarrelled with and killed his neighbour Eyolf. For this 
and other offences he was condemned to a banishment of three years. 
Setting sail from Iceland, he soon fell in with a point of land, which 
he called Hirjalfs-ness, and continuing his voyage to the southwest, 
he entered a deep inlet, to which he gave the name of Erics-sund, and 
passed the winter on a pleasant island in the neighbourhood. In the 
following year he explored the continent, and returning to Iceland in 
the third year, he represented his new discovery in the most favoura- 
ble light, enlarging in his praises of its fine woods, rich meadows, and 
abundant fisheries ; and the better to confirm the impression made by 
these embellished accounts, he gave to the newly-discovered country 
the alluring name of Greenland. By these arts he contrived to draw 
together a considerable company, who embarked under his guidance, 



878 



SCANDINAVIA. 






«^'«=% 




Discovery of the Grapes. 



carrying -witli tliem household furniture, implements of all kinds, cattle 
for breeding, and ^Yhatever else is necessary for the establishment of 
a colony. But of twenty-five ships which set sail, not more than 
fourteen arrived in safety. These first adventurers were soon followed 
by many more from Iceland and Norway. 

In the year 1001, an Icelander named Biorn, sailing to Greenland 
to visit his father, was driven by a tempest far away to the southwest : 
he there saw a level country covered with wood ; the wind abating, he 
steered northwest, and reached his destination. His account inflamed 
the ambition of Leif, the son of that Eric Rauda who had founded 
the colony of Greenland. A vessel was soon equipped: Leif and 
Biorn set sail together, and arrived at the country which the latter 
had descried. The first land they reached was a rocky island, to 
which they gave the name of Helleland ; a low country, thickly wooded, 
was called Markland. A few days afterward they found a river, on 
the banks of which were trees loaded with agreeable fruits. The 
temperature appeared delicious, the soil seemed fertile, and the river 
yielded abundance of fine salmon. Having reached the lake from 
which the river issued, our Greenlanders resolved to winter in the 
country. They found that on the shortest day the sun remained eight 



THE NORTHMEN. 



379 




Biorne sending presents to Thurida and her son. 



hours above the horizon ; from which observation it results that they 
were not far from the forty-nintli degree of latitude. 

A German, who made one of the party, found some wild grapes, 
and having explained to his companions the use to which that fruit 
was generally converted, it was agreed among them to give the newly- 
discovered country the name of Vinland, or the land of wine. The 
relations of Leif made several voyages to Vinland. The third sum- 
mer after the Normans landed there, they saw arrive, in canoes covered 
with leather, a number of natives of diminutive stature, to whom they 
gave the name of Skrtelingues, or dwarfs. They massacred those 
comparatively feeble creatures without mercy, and were in consequence 
furiously attacked by the whole tribe. Some years afterward, the 
Scandinavian colony carried on an advantageous fur trade with the 
savages, who appear from these accounts to have been Esquimaux. 

The fate of these adventurers is uncertain. But the following is 
recorded in the Icelandic chronicles. In 1026, Gudlief, an Icelander, 
embarked for Dublin. The vessel, being driven out of her course, came 
near what is supposed to have been the American shore, where the crew 
were seized by the natives and carried into the interior. There they 
were accosted by a venerable chief, who addressed them in their own 
language, and inquired after several persons in Iceland. He refused 
to tell his name ; but as he sent a gold ring to Thurida, the sister of 
Snorre Gode, and a sword to her son, he was supposed to be Biorne 
the bard. 

In the mean time the authority of the Scandinavians was extended 
over the Orkney Islands and those parts of Russia bordering on the 
northern seas. Norway continued to be the centre of their empire, 



380 SCANDINAVIA. 



and many monarchs of valour and ability are said to have ruled over 
them. The exploits of Eivcr and Rollo, the illustrious sons of Ro- 
grevald, were such as would have conferred honour on the heroes of 
early Greece ; while Sigurd, the greatest of the rulers of the Orkneys, 
was distinguished for his many deeds of generosity and courage. Si- 
gurd married the daughter of the king of Scotland, and fought against 
Brian Boroihme, the Irish hero. The warlike rulers of Eastern Scan- 
dinavia extended their authority over some of the German and Russian 
tribes, and even entered into expeditions against the provinces of the 
Greek empire. 

During the pagan age, the Northmen exercised an important in- 
fluence upon many countries of Europe. Their visit to Italy was but 
transient. Hastings, their leader, did no more than surprise a town 
at the mouth of the Tiber, and returned to Gaul, where a richer spoil 
invited him. In Spain, the Scandinavians abode for many years. The 
important city of Seville was in their power, and from it they made 
frequent and most disastrous incursions into the neighbouring pro- 
vinces. They were long too powerful to be expelled by the monarch 
of Cordova, though that monarch was no other than the great Ab- 
derahman. On the coast of Gallicia too, according to the ancient 
chroniclers of Castile, they abode for a season, and caused much mis- 
chief to the subjects of Pelayo's successors. In Belgium and Spain 
their ravages were more frequent and more severe; in fact, there was 
no cessation to them until the north became Christianized. But though 
of their predatory expeditions a volume might be composed, they would 
little interest the reader, both because the description of one is the 
description of all, and because they left no permanent or important 
results behind them. In the expeditions which we have already con- 
templated, such results are to be found. In England they led to the 
formation of an independent kingdom in Northumbria, compelled even 
Alfred to retire into private life, and eventually placed Danish sove- 
reigns on the throne. In France they occasioned the dismember- 
ment of Normandy and Brittany from the crown. In Ireland they 
gave rise to many principalities, and continued, for centuries, to 
influence in the highest degree the fate of that country. In the Ork- 
neys, they led to the establishment of a powerful dynasty, and pro- 
duced a hardy race of men who still possess those islands. In Iceland 
there was the same result ; and Iceland too became, what to literature 
is more important, — the refuge of the Norwegian language, religion, 
and learning. In Greenland, they called into existence a colony 
which subsisted above three hundred years. In Russia, they laid the 
foundation of the greatest empire which the world has yet seen. Even 



THE NORTHMEN. 381 



in North America, transient or unknown as were the results they pro- 
duced, they exhibit a phenomenon as curious as it is interesting, — a 
handful of warlike shepherds, or adventurous mariners, traversing the 
wide Atlantic, and attempting to introduce their own institutions among 
the savages of another world. But those which were undertaken into 
the countries before us were not directed by master minds, and their 
motive was only sordid gain. 

Christianity was introduced among the Scandinavians in the eighth 
century ; but previous to the ninth century the number of Christians 
must have been exceedingly small ; and of these, most were probably 
converts only in name, joining the admiration of Thor and Odin with 
that of Christ. Those who communicated a knowledge of Christianity 
to the Scandinavians encountered much opposition from the ferocity 
and ignorance of the people, and those interested in maintaining their 
delusions. 

After Harold Ilardrade, Canute the Great, and Magnus I., the 
most celebrated hero orthe north was Sigurd I., king of Norway, who 
commenced his reign in 1103. His pilgrimage to Jerusalem and ex- 
ploits during the voyage have been the themes of the poet and the 
admiration of his countrymen. To aid in recovering the holy places 
frqjpi the hands of the infidels might enrich an adventurous monarch, 
and would surely open to him the gates of heaven. Influenced by 
this twofold advantage, and the hope of plunder on the passage, — a 
singular combination of motives, — Sigurd, with sixty ships, sailed from 
the North. During the first vrinter he remained in England, and was 
hospitably entertained by Henry I. The second winter, at least the 
greater part of it, he passed near the shrine of Santiago in Gallicia : 
he was a pilgrim, no less than a champion of the cross. On his way 
to Lisbon, he captured some infidel privateers, and destroyed several 
Moorish settlements on the coast, especially one in Cintra. All who 
refused baptism he put to the sword. Lisbon, according to the North- 
ern chroniclers, was divided into two parts, one inhabited by the Moors, 
the other by the Christians. The former he assailed, took it, and 
with much booty proceeded through the straits of Gibraltar in quest 
of new adventures. Having passed these straits, he conquered a whole 
fleet of the infidels, and this was the fifth battle since he left Norway. 
In vain did the Mohammedan pirates on the African coast resist him : 
his valour overcame every thing. Landing in Sicily, he was magnifi- 
cently entertained by Roger, sovereign of the island, who had expelled 
the Saracens. Roger was of Norman descent : he remembered the 
land of his sires ; and so far did he carry his good-will as to insist on 
serving Sigurd at table. Continuing his voyage, he landed at Acre, 



382 SCANDINAVIA. 



and proceeded to Jerusalem, -where the offer of his sword was most 
welcome to Baldwin. From that king he received what he thought a 
valuable treasure — a fragment of the true cross, which he promised 
to deposit in the shrine of St. Olaf. He promised too, at the instance 
of his new friends, to establish an archi-episcopal see in Norway, to 
build churches, and to enforce the payment of tithes. His last exploit 
in these regions was to join in the siege of Sidon ; and when that city 
was taken, half the booty became his. On his return through Con- 
stantinople, his reception by the Greek emperor was a noble one ; but 
much of Avhat the Northern annalists relate bears the marks of inven- 
tion. Such are, the opening of the golden gate ; the carpeting of 
the streets ; the three large presents made him by Alexis, with their 
immediate distribution among the followers of Sigurd ; and the gift 
by the latter of his sixty ships to Alexis. Such fables may gratify a 
Northern imagination ; but history can only say that in 1111, the king 
arrived in Norway after an absence of four years. 

That this remarkable expedition redounded greatly to the honour 
of Sigurd, is certain : he was thenceforth much venerated throughout 
the North. He married, and attended to the duties of government, 
especially to the extirpation of idolatry. His expedition (undertaken 
at the request of the Danish king) against the inhabitants of the isle 
of Smaland, was one congenial to his feelings. They had received 
Christianity, but, like many other portions of the Scandinavian popu- 
lation, had returned to idolatry. Even Sweden had its pagans and 
apostates, some too of royal dignity. Great Avas the punishment in- 
flicted by Sigurd and his ally Nicholas on the pagans whom they had 
vanquished; but mercy to infidels, and still less to apostates, formed 
no portion of their creed. 

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were long included in one power- 
ful empire. But civil wars occurred among their restless population, 
and the sons of monarchs took the field against each other. Sweden 
for many years was a separate kingdom and a powerful rival of Den- 
mark, which included Norway. The possession of the latter country 
was the great bone of contention between the Swedes and Danes. In 
the bloody wars which it produced, the Danes were generally success- 
ful, though they occasionally met with a disastrous overthrow. Upon 
the sea, they were decidedly superior to any nation in the north of 
Europe. Canute the Great not only became master of Denmark, 
Sweden, Norway, and the adjacent islands, but also of England. This 
great empire, however, did not long survive its founder. Many princes 
contended for the sceptre of power, and it was divided between them. 




ITALY— HILDEBRAND. 



*BOUT the middle of the eleventh century 
there appeared a man who was destined to 
work a mighty alteration in the spiritual as 
well as temporal affairs of the world. Since 
the reign of Charlemagne the see of Rome 
had always exercised considerable influence 
over the Christian world : but this influence 
was often weakened, especially in the times 
of the last Carlovingians, by the profligate 
and inefiicient character of those who filled the chair of St. Peter. In 
proportion as the power of the popes declined, that of the emperors 
increased, and the church was purified from many of her corruptions by 
the strong hand of such rulers as Otho the First and Henry the Third. 
But when the crown of Germany was placed on the head of an infant, 
whose ministers committed the most atrocious acts of oppression in 

25 385 




386 ITALY — niLDEBRAND. 



his name, ■while the clergy, no longer under the vigilant eye of the 
emperor, strove to outstrip the most abandoned laymen in the race of 
infamy, then the popes felt that the time was come for them to re- 
assert their dominion over the souls of men, and lay the foundations 
of a sovereignty which should insure peace in future to the whole of 
Christendom. The man who strove most perseveringly and success- 
fully to carry out this mighty project was Cardinal Hildebrand. The 
son of a Roman blacksmith, or, according to other authorities, of a 
petty proprietor in the little tov/n of Soano, he had risen by his talents 
to the highest offices of the church, and was eminently qualified by 
character as well as abilities to act the part of a reformer. To a 
rigid firmness of disposition, which no terrors could shake, he united 
the most saintlike purity of life and the greatest contempt for the 
pleasures of the world ; yet he possessed an acquaintance with human 
nature which astonished those who believed that such knowledge could 
only be obtained by a practical familiarity with the crooked by-ways 
of vice. So great was his eloquence that Henry the Third, when Hil- 
debrand preached before him, declared that no sermon had ever 
affected him so deeply. Ilis notions of the papal power were extrava- 
gantly exalted. Allowing that the church was corrupt, he fancied 
that he saw the cause of that sinfulness and corruption in the enslaved 
state of the ecclesiastical power. "Were the arm of the pope free, he 
would cast out of the building every stone of offence, and restore the 
sanctuary to its original beauty. But in order to attain tliis important 
object the election of the popes must be wholly independent of the 
emperor ; he therefore proposed, at the beginning of Henry's reign, 
that they should be chosen by a college of cardinals. This proposi- 
tion being adopted at a council held at Home in 1059, the sacred col- 
lege, as it was called, was formed after the model of those chapters 
which had long been attached to the episcopal sees. Hildebrand Avas 
appointed a member of this college, (which consisted of seventy mem- 
bers, in imitation of the college of our Lord's first disciples,) and arch- 
deacon or chief secretary of the pope. The next step was to obtain 
for the pontiffs, thus independently elected, an increase of temporal 
power, which was effected by persuading the Norman kings in Naples 
and Sicily to hold their crowns as fiefs, not of the emperors, but of 
the popes, thus giving them an authority, as feudal sovereigns, which 
hitherto none but the emperors had enjoyed. In this manner the 
foundation was laid of that mighty structure which Hildebrand, when 
he himself ascended the papal throne, raised to such an imposing 
height. 

In the year 1073 he was elected pope, and assumed the title of 



ITALY — IIILDEBKAND. 387 



Gregory VII. ; and, in addition to his compact with the Normans, 
formed a strict alliance with Matilda, margravine of Tuscany. Thus 
supported on both sides, Ilildcbrand combated fearlessly the abuses 
of the church, and that which he conceived to be the chief cause of 
them, the interference of the temporal magistrate in spiritual concerns. 
His first attacks were directed against the simony or corrupt pur- 
chasing of ecclesiastical offices, (so called from the crime of Simon 
Magus, who sought to buy with money the gift of working miracles,) 
which for a long time had prevailed to a fearful extent. Two decrees 
of general councils were published, forbidding this practice on pain of 
excommunication. Having succeeded thus far, Gregory next proposed 
a measure from which even his fearless soul would probably have 
shrunk, had not the change which he sought to introduce been in full 
accordance with the spirit of the age. Hitherto only the monks had 
led lives of celibacy, the bishops and secular priests being permitted 
to marry or not, as they thought fit ; but an unmarried life had long 
been highly esteemed, as being the most diametrically opposite to that 
licentious system which Mohammed, the bitter enemy of the truth, 
had framed for his disciples, and the most conformable to the model 
of her, the virgin mother of God, whom the church adored as the 
highest of glorified saints. It was also believed that the great duties 
of a Christian were to endure and renounce, and that in this holy 
race the clergy ought to take the lead. Their lives should be not 
those of men, but of angels upon earth. Gregory perceived this feel- 
ing of the people, and profited by it : for his acute mind easily com- 
prehended that as long as the bishops and priests were permitted to 
marry, they would have interests independent of the church ; but if 
he could succeed in enforcing celibacy, those affections which had 
hitherto been shared by wives and children would be exclusively de- 
voted to their order, to the pope, and as he believed, or afi"ected to 
believe, to heaven. Thus did Gregory seek to lay the foundation of 
that system which for nearly eight hundred years has been employed 
to increase the influence of the Romish church, at the expense, in 
many instances, of the happiness and morality of her clergy. The 
change, although agreeable to the laity, was by no means equally 
acceptable to the clergy themselves. In every part of the empire an 
outcry was raised against the tyranny of the pope ; and at Erfurt, 
where the archbishop of Mainz attempted to read the edict to a coun- 
cil of bishops, there arose such an uproar that his life Avas in danger. 
But Gregory was not to be so easily defeated. Relying on the sym- 
pathy of the people and the co-operation of the monks, he excommu- 
nicated all the secular clergy, forbidding their congregations to listen 



388 ITALY — HILDEBRAND. 



to the masses celebrated bj them. This had its effect ; for in a short 
time, although the bishops of Constance and Ratisbon clearly proved 
from Scripture that marriage was honourable in all, the Germans 
were compelled to yield; and the celibacy of the clergy became 
thenceforward one of the fundamental laws of the Romish church. 

The next year Gregory passed a law forbidding lay patronage, and 
thus struck at the root of simony, which for a long time had been 
shamelessly practised by the ministers and favourites of the emperor. 
It was now ordered that all bishops should be elected by the clergy, 
and their election confirmed by the pope, and that the emperor should 
no longer interfere in their appointment. Thus the papal see became 
the sole patron and proprietor of those enormous ecclesiastical endow- 
ments which had hitherto been held as fiefs of the empire ; and the 
priesthood, formed into a compact society, equally independent of the 
control of earthly sovereigns and the ties of domestic affection, hoped 
to reign without restraint over the whole Christian world. That this 
formidable body might have a recognised head, Gregory declared that 
the pope alone had the power of summoning general councils, and that 
the proceedings of such as were called without his sanction were null 
and void. In imitation of Charlemagne, who had sent commissioners 
into different parts of the empire, he despatched ambassadors or 
legates, whose business it was to support the power and watch over the 
interests of the church in those countries to which they were accre- 
dited. As the principle on which these enormous usurpations were 
grounded, it was solemnly proclaimed that "the pope was through 
God and instead of God upon earth, and therefore that all things tem- 
poral as well as spiritual were subject to his power." 

The church, in its purification, was shaken to its foundation. The 
means used were atrocious. Persons traversed Italy and preached the 
doctrine that the opponents of reform might be slain without compunc- 
tion, and Gregory himself approved of the mutilation of a refractory 
monk. The energy and perseverance of the pope were, however, suc- 
cessful, and his power increased manifold. 

It was now that the church attacked the empire. Having renewed 
her strength, she demanded of the age the acknowledgment of her 
supremacy. The adultery and simony of the king of France, the 
schismatic isolation of the Anglican church, and the feudal authority 
of the emperor, were called to the bar of trial. Henry IV. of Saxony 
was too warful and high-spirited to submit to the dictation of Gregory, 
yet his character unfitted him for a struggle with the cool and subtle 
pontiff. The despotic rule of Henry had caused a spirit of discontent 
among the Germans, of which Gregory was quick to take advantage. 



ITALY HILDEBRAND. 889 



But still the emperor was very powerful, and the pontiff did not pro- 
secute his plans until assured of the support of the masculine Matilda 
of Tuscany. 

Gregory began by excommunicating some of Henry's ministers, on 
the charge of simony, and remonstrated with the emperor because 
they were not immediately dismissed*. He then renewed the papal 
edict against lay investitures, and finally cited Henry himself to appear 
at Rome and vindicate himself from the charges of his rebellious sub- 
jects. The emperor, roused by such insults, assembled a number of 
his prelates and vassals at Worms, and procured a sentence that 
Gregory should no longer be recognised as legitimate pope. 

The trial of power was now at hand, Gregory assured himself of 
support, and then solemnly excommunicated the emperor, and released 
his subjects from their oaths of allegiance. At this the disaffected 
Saxons rejoiced. The majority of the German princes assembled at 
Trubin, on the Rhine, to elect a new emperor. Henry hastened to 
Oppenheim, in the vicinity, and, at length, after many entreaties and 
vows of reform, obtained from them a year's extension of authority. 
It was decided that, in the mean time, the pope should be requested to 
come to Augsburg and investigate the affair ; but if, at the end of 
the year, Henry was not free from excommunication, the princes 
resolved to proceed to a new election. 

The prelates and nobles of Lombardy alone maintained their posi- 
tion, and excommunicated the pope. It was probably in the hope of 
gaining their active aid, that Henry resolved to cross the Alps. He 
undertook the journey in the depth of winter, and the sufferings of his 
queen and child, as well as himself, completely crushed his strong 
spirit. When the emperor arrived in Lombardy, his only hope was 
the conciliation of his indomitable enemy. Gregory, ignorant of 
Henry's purposes, had taken refuge in the strong fortress of Canossa, 
belonging to Matilda of Tuscany. The emperor prevailed on Matilda 
to procure him an interview with the pontiff, and he proceeded to 
Canossa for that purpose in January, 1077. 

The ground was covered with snow when Henry, protected from the 
cold by a thin garment of Avhite linen, presented himself as a suppli- 
cant at the gate of the fortress. The frozen rocky road caused the 
blood to stream from his naked feet as he ascended the outer gate. 
He passed through it and a second, and appeared before a third, which 
barred his progress. During three days, the sun rose upon him 
fasting, stiff with cold, and devoured by shame and partly suppressed 
resentment. Gregory was inexorable ; and it was not until the em- 
peror had taken refuge in a convent that the pope revoked the ana- 



390 ITALY — HILDEBRAND. 



thema of the Vatican. Henry was compelled to submit his claims to 
the imperial crown to the decision of the apostolic see; to live as a 
common citizen, with the title of emperor, until his fate was fixed, and 
to promise abject submission to the papal authority should he be 
restored. This humiliation procured for the emperor the contempt 
of all classes. 

But the danger of Henry's position restored to him his usual intre- 
pidity. He broke off the treaty with Gregory, and resolved to go to 
war for the maintenance of his imperial rights. He first attempted 
to arrest the pope and Matilda of Tuscany, but failed. In the mean 
time, the German princes assembled, and elected Rodolph, duke of 
Swabia, to the imperial dignity. But Henry had regained the affec- 
tion and confidence of a large portion of his people, and the pope was 
forced to preserve a neutral position between Rodolph and him. About 
this time Gregory settled the dispute concerning the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation, which was then received as an article of faith. 

The master-spirit among Rodolph's adherents was Otho of Saxony. 
By his aid the rebel emperor gained two victories over Henry, and 
received a golden crown from the pope. The final battle was fought 
on the banks of the Elster. Otho of Saxony there defeated the 
army of Henry, and, it was thought, secured the imperial crown for 
Rodolph. But, in the course of the battle, Rodolph was slain by the 
hand of the famous Godfrey of Bouillon. On the same day the 
troops of Henry gained a victory over tlie army of Matilda of Tuscany, 
and his cause seemed to be the favourite in Germany. Crossing the 
Alps, the emperor marched to Rome, and besieged that city three 
times in three successive years. Bribery at length opened its gates 
to him. Gregory was forced to take refuge in St. Angelo, and Clement 
was formally consecrated his successor. But now the Normans, under 
Robert Guiscard, returned from their expedition against the Eastern 
Empire, and forced Henry to leave Italy. Violence and rapine fol- 
lowed, and Italy became the scene of revel and plunder for the hardy 
warriors of the North. Gregory fled from the sight to Salerno, where 
he died. As his indomitable spirit left its worn-out tenement, he 
exclaimed : " I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and 
therefore I die in exile." 




SICILY. 

ICILY is the largest, finest, most important, 
and most famous island in the Mediterranean. 
It is of a triangular shape, and was hence, in 
antiquity, sometimes called Triquetra and Tri- 
nacria. It seems to have derived the name 
Sicily from the Sicani or Siculi, its earliest 
inhabitants. 

Sicily early became the seat of flourishing 
Greek colonies. Of these, Syracuse and Agri- 
gentum were the principal and most celebrated ; Syracuse, especially, 
attained great power and prosperity. The Athenians, under Demos- 
thenes and Nicias, attempted its conquest; but were completely 
defeated by the skill of the Spartan Gylippus and the valour of the 
Syracusans. During the Peloponnesian war, the people of Sicily 

391 




892 SICILY. 

remained the firm friends of the Spartans, and furnished them with 
ships and soldiers. 

Syracuse produced many characters distinguished for heroic quali- 
ties. Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, was the friend and patron 
of the philosopher Plato, who instructed the ruler's children, Dion 
and Dionysius the younger. But the honey of the philosopher's 
teachings did not sweeten the dispositions of the brothers. After the 
death of the elder Dionysius they quarrelled, and Dion drove his 
brother from the throne. The victor governed with prudence and 
ability, but was at length murdered, and the oppressor, Dionysius the 
younger, again ascended the throne. 

The person who finally relieved the people of Syracuse from the 
iron rule of Dionysius was Timoleon, a brave, wise, and humane Co- 
rinthian. Timoleon was the ardent lover of freedom ; he had driven 
his own brother, Timophanes, from Corinth, on account of his subver- 
sion of the liberties of that state, and consented to his death when he 
found that brother stubborn and remorseless in the exercise of autho- 
rity. The people praised Timoleon for his conduct, but his heart 
reproached him, and he would have sacrificed his own life, if his 
friends had not implored him to refrain. 

The Carthaginians, who were almost always at war with the Syra- 
cusans, sent an army against them, and they applied to Corinth for 
relief. Timoleon, with some troops, was sent to their aid. The Co- 
rinthian hero made use of superstition to inspirit the small band under 
his orders ; and in this he was seconded by the priests of Proserpine 
and Apollo, and by a natural phenomenon which occurred very oppor- 
tunely. The priest of Proserpine ingeniously contrived that while 
Timoleon was in the temple, a wreath of victory should fall from 
among the suspended offerings upon his head ; and the priests of Ceres 
afiirmed that that goddess and her daughter had assured them they 
would accompany the deliverer of Sicily. Timoleon sailed under these 
auspices, and had not proceeded far before a brilliant meteor passed 
along the heavens. Its track was towards the coast of Italy, whither 
they were bound ; and the high-raised enthusiasm of the voyagers 
considered the wandering fire as a torch sent by the propitious deities 
to direct them on their way. 

In Sicily, Timoleon gained several important victories over the 
Carthaginians, and entered Syracuse in triumph, Dionysius, in admi- 
ration of the hero, surrendered himself and his citadel into his hands, 
and was sent to Corinth. The Carthaginians under Asdrubal and 
Amilcar were next attacked and defeated with great slaughter, and 
Timoleon had the glory of delivering Syracuse from all her enemies, 




liiiiiiiiijat'iiiiiiiiiaiiii^^^ 



SICILY. 395 

and restoring her liberties. He then gave up his authority, and re- 
tired to Corinth ; the Sicilians ever loved and respected him. Timo- 
leon died about 337 b. c. 

But the Syracusans had not sufficient virtue to retain their freedom; 
Agathocles, a man of splendid abilities, contrived to gain the supreme 
power. He became formidable to the Carthaginians ; but the supe- 
rior numbers of the Carthaginian armament compelled Agathocles 
to exert his utmost skill, and finally to adopt the bold resolution of 
"carrying the war into Africa." While the enemy were engaged in 
ravaging Sicily, he crossed the sea with an army, and appeared before 
their great city. The effect of this movement was the deliverance of 
Sicily from the Carthaginian armies. Agathocles retained his power 
and reputation till his death. After that event Syracuse fell into 
confusion, and became involved in a dispute with the Mamertines, the 
mercenary troops of xVgathocles. The Syracusans allied themselves 
with the Carthaginians, and the Mamertines received support from 
the Romans. Thus broke out the first Punic war. The Romans were 
triumphant, and compelled their enemies not only to sue for peace, 
but to give up all Sicily, (b. c. 243,) which then became a part of their 
powerful empire. 

After the fall of the Western Empire, Sicily was successively held 
by the Vandals, the Goths, and the Greek emperors till 827, when it 
was conquered by the Saracens. In 1016, Norman warriors came 
accidentally to Salerno, where they defeated the Saracens, and were 
richly rewarded by the inhabitants, who professed Christianity. The 
Normans remained in the country, and, being joined by more of their 
countrymen, fixed their dominion there. Their valiant rulers belonged 
to the famous Hauteville family, and they extended their conquests 
to the greater part of Lower Italy. Roger II. was crowned by the 
pope as king of the Two Sicilies, and at the same time was enfeoffed 
of this kingdom by the holy father. 

Towards the close of the twelfth century, the male heir of the house 
of Hauteville became extinct with William III., and Constantia, his 
daughter, succeeded to the throne. When she died, she bequeathed 
it to the famous Frederic II. of Hohenstaufen. About the middle 
of the thirteenth century, the pope invested Charles of Anjou with 
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Charles took possession of the 
kingdom ; but, in 1282, the French in the island were exterminated 
by the inhabitants under the lead of John di Procida. This massacre 
is known in history as the Sicilian Vespers. The Sicilians then elected 
Peter III. of Arragon their king. In 1442, the kingdoms of Naples 
and Sicily were united by Alphonso V. of Arragon. From 1503, 

i. 



396 



SICILY. 



the Two Sicilies formed parts of the Spanish kingdom until 1714, 
when Austria gained possession of them. In 1734, the Spaniards 
again took possession of the Two Sicilies, and their pi-ince, Charles, 
was acknowledged king. When Charles ascended the throne of Spain, 
he ceded the kingdom of Naples to his son Ferdinand. Towards the 
end of the eighteenth century, the French gained possession of Naples, 
but Ferdinand, assisted by the English, kept the island of Sicily. In 
1815, Ferdinand was reinstated in the whole kingdom. 




Sicilian Costume. 




SYRIA— THE CRUSADES. 




REGORY VII., perceiving that the very existence 
of Christianity was menaced by the rapid progress 
of the Mohammedans, planned a great expedition 
against the centre of their empire, but was pre- 
vented from executing his plans by his quarrel 
with Henry IV. At that time, insuperable ob- 
stacles to such a scheme were presented by the 
difficulty of communicating with the powers of Europe, and the neces- 
sity of securing the assent of vassals as well as raonarchs. But un- 
foreseen events furnished Urban II. with the means of organizing 
Europe against the East. 

The immediate occasion which brought the Christian and Moham- 
medan powers in collision was the manner in which the Turks, in 
possession of Jerusalem, outraged the Christian feeling of veneration 
for the places where the Saviour came among men and suffered. The 
emperor Constantino had erected a temple over the Holy Sepulchre, 
and his mother Helena made a pilgrimage thither, during which she 
found what was reputed to be the cross on which Christ expired. The 
number of those who followed her example annually increased. Honour 
and consideration rewarded the pilgrims on their return : crowds came 
to the churches, where, according to custom, they publicly gave thanks 
to God for the protection which had been granted to them ; and gave 
to the priest, to be deposited on the altar, a branch of palm, plucked 
in the garden of Abraham at Jericho, from which time they were known 
as palmers. About the beginning of the eleventh century, an opinion 

397 



398 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 




that the end of the worhl was at hand caused the number of pilgrim- 
ages to increase very rapidly. 

Hitherto, the pilgrims had encountered all their danger upon the 
way to the Holy Land. But when the Turks conquered Syria, a 
savage chief named Orthok received the government of Jerusalem, 
and the adjacent country. He suffered his followers to offer every 
species of insult to the pious palmers, to beat the priests, and profane 
the sacred altars and images. The fees for entrance into Jerusalem 
were so exorbitant, that thousands of poor pilgrims lay about the gates 
unable to obtain admission. On their return, they filled the cars of 
Europe with the stories of their sufferings. 

At length, the people of Europe were aroused to a sense of the 
importance of rescuing the Holy Land from the infidels by the fer- 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 



399 




Departure of the Crusaders for the Il^ly LltocI. 



vent, the courageous, and the eloquent pilgrim, Peter the Hermit. 
This man was a native of Amiens, in Picardy. He had early entered 
upon a military life, but soon abandoned it, and, retiring to a hermitage 
in the south of France, gained the reputation of a saint by his reli- 
gious austerity. Leaving his retreat, Peter visited the Holy Land. 
There he experienced the most painful emotions at the ■wrongs he 
"witnessed, and in an interview with the venerable patriarch of Jeru- 
salem, pledged himself to convey the petition of the Christians for 
relief to the princes of Europe, and to supplicate the pope to sanction 
an expedition for that purpose. 

Peter traversed the greater part of Europe, relating everywhere the 
sufferings of the faithful in Palestine, and succeeded in filling the peo- 
ple with the spirit of the crusades. Pope Urban II. convoked the council 
of Clermont, in Auvergne, in 1095. At Clermont, Peter preached to 
excited and enthusiastic crowds, and the pope called upon all Chris- 
tians to arm and avenge the cause of Jesus Christ. The clergy and 
the laity, the lords and the vassals hurried to enlist for the great 
enterprise. Each pilgrim affixed a red cross to the right shoulder of 
his garment, and they thus gave themselves the name of the crossed, 
and to the expedition that of the Crusade. 



400 SYRIA— THE CRUSADES. 



While the princes and the knights returned to their castles to pre- 
pare themselves for the Holy War, the masses whom Peter had 
assembled followed him towards the East. A single knight, Walter the 
Penniless, served as a leader for this tumultuous band. In France 
and Germany, the crusaders subsisted by the alms of the faithful. 
But in Hungary and Bulgaria, the circumstances altered. The ad- 
vanced body, under Walter the Penniless, passed unharmed to Bulga- 
ria. But their imprudent siege of Belgrade drew on them the vengeance 
of redoubtable enemies, who defeated them and forced Walter to throw 
himself on the protection of the Bulgarian prince, who sent them to 
Constantinople. Peter the Hermit and the main body followed Walter 
into Hungary, where the crusaders got into difficulty with the inhabit- 
ants, and the hermit lost one-fourth of his followers. With 30,000 
men, he finally joined Walter the Penniless beneath the walls of the 
imperial city. 

The emperor Alexis Comnenus received the crusaders with cordiality, 
supplied them with food, and advised them to wait for the arrival of the 
great princes who had taken the cross ; but their ardour could not be 
restrained. They crossed the Bosphorus. Then dissensions arose 
among them. The Germans and the Lombards chose Reginald for 
their leader, and while the French gained some advantages over the 
Turks in Nicaea, took a castle about four miles from that town, and 
resolved to wait the arrival of the other crusaders. But they suddenly 
found themselves besieged. Reginald made a secret treaty, and went 
over to the enemy. Most of the garrison were slain or carried away 
as captives. The remainder of the crusaders marched out of Nicsea 
to revenge their slaughtered brethren. But the Turks attacked them 
suddenly, and slew all but three thousand of them. These were res- 
cued by the emperor and brought back to Constantinople. 

In August, 1096, Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lorraine, set out from 
the Rhine with eighty thousand men, and Hugh, duke of Vermandois, 
Raymond of Toulouse, Archbishop Adhemar, Robert of Normandy, 
Stephen of Blois, Stephen of Albemarle, Bohemond, Tancred, and 
their vast number of vassals, including the chivalry of Europe, soon 
followed. At Constantinople most of the leaders of the crusaders took 
the oath of fealty to Alexis. But the haughty Raymond of Toulouse 
refused to do more than promise that he would not commence hostilities 
against the emperor. When the great army entered Asia, the misera- 
ble remnant of Peter the Hermit's followers was found at Nicomedia. 
By the lowest computation, the hosts on the plains of the Bosphorus 
numbered six hundred thousand souls, of whom three hundred thou- 
sand were well-appointed infantry, and one hundred thousand mounted 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 401 



knights. Nicaea, or Nice, was the first place invested, and for seven 
•weeks was the siege prosecuted. The Turks made a manful and suc- 
cessful defence. But the cunning negotiation of Alexis at length ob- 
tained the surrender of the city on condition that the inhabitants 
should be secured from plunder and outrage. 

After the surrender of Nicsea, the crusaders separated into columns 
for the difficult march to Syria. Bohemond headed one, and Godfrey the 
other. Arslan, the Turkish commander, took advantage of this division, 
and attacked Bohemond at Doryloeum. Bohemond immediately sent to 
Godfrey for aid, and did not succeed in repulsing the enemy until he 
received a considerable reinforcement. The Mussulmans fled, leaving 
their rich camp to the victors, and three thousand men upon the field. 
Robert of Paris and four thousand of the crusaders were slain. 

After this battle, the Turks ceased to oppose the progress of the 
Christians, but they strove to render the country untenable by 
destroying the provision and forage. The rapidity of the march, 
however, rendered this effort abortive, and the crusaders at length 
appeared before Antioch. The siege of this city lasted seven months, 
and it was finally captured by the treachery of a certain Pyrrhus, 
who kept one of the principal towers. During the siege, Godfrey of 
Bouillon, Hugh of Vermandois, Robert of Normandy, and Tancred 
performed many of those wonderful exploits which are dwelt upon 
with rapture by the old chroniclers. 

When the crusaders had gained possession of Antioch, they heard 
of a vast Turkish army coming against them, and, exposed as they 
were to famine in case of a siege, they became dispirited. A large 
body of them, under Stephen, count of Chartres, retired to Alexan- 
dretta. At that place they met the emperor Alexis, with a large 
army. Believing that all was lost, from the representations of this 
band, the emperor retreated to Constantinople with it. In the mean 
time Raymond of Toulouse and Peter the Hermit gave out that they 
had found the lance with which a soldier had pierced the side of 
Christ, and the hopes and enthusiasm of the crusaders in Antioch 
were again excited. 

Kerbogah with a superb Turkish army now appeared, and the cru- 
saders, under their indomitable captains, went forth to battle. At the 
bridge of Orontes, Archbishop Adhemar addressed the crusaders, and 
promised them the aid of heaven. They responded with the enthu- 
siastic war-cry, " God wills it !" In the hottest of the action, when 
victory appeared to smile upon the efforts of the enemy, three human 
figures, clad in white armour, and riding on white horses, appeared. 
on the summits of the neighbouring hills. Adhemar pointed to the 

26 



402 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 




Defeat of Kerbogah. 



aid which God had promised, and the crusaders threw themselves upon 
the infidels with renewed strength and fury. Before an hour had 
elapsed, the great array of Kerbogah was almost annihilated. An 
immense quantity of booty fell to the victorious Christians. The 
citadel of Antioch surrendered. Bohemond received the possession 
of the city as the reward of his services, and the army rested a while 
from its labours. 

Disputes between Bohemond and Kaymond of Toulouse, concerning 
reported miracles, now occurred. But the people soon became so 
anxious to complete the pilgrimage, that individual matters were 
thrown aside, for the march to Jerusalem. When the Holy City burst 
upon their sight, the crusaders were seized with a frenzy which could 
not be restrained. They rushed to the assault, but the steady valour 
of the garrison repulsed tliem. The Genoese then constructed the 
necessary machines for the siege, and on the 14th of July, 1099, 
Godfrey of Bouillon led the besiegers to the attack. The contest 
was nobly maintained by both parties, all one day and until noon of 
the next. At that time, a cavalier, in shining armour, appeared on 
the top of the mount of Olives, and gave the signal for a renewed 
charge. Godfrey was the first to perceive the messenger, and notify- 



SYRIA — THE CRUSDAES. 



403 




ing his followers, he rushed to the assault. Within an hour the city 
was carried, the banner of the cross streamed from the walls, and 
23,000 Saracens were slain. After the work of death was completed, 
Godfrey and the whole array of crusaders hastened to render adora- 
tion at the sepulchre of the Founder of Christianity. The great 
services of Peter the Hermit were now acknowledged and rewarded. 
The heroic Godfrey was chosen to fill the throne of David in Jerusa- 
lem. But he did not long survive his tremendous exertions, expiring 
on the 18th of July, 1100. His remains were interred, with great 
pomp, near the sepulchre of Christ. 

In the mean time, Baldwin, Godfrey's brother, and Tancred, nephew 
of Bohemond, captured Tarsus and Mamistra, but quarrelled about 
superiority of rank, and a bloody struggle ensued. Through the in- 
terference of friends, the valiant leaders were reconciled. The fault 
was entirely Baldwin's, and he hastened to make repai-ation. God- 
frey, on his death-bed, expressed his desire that Baldwin should 
succeed to the throne. After some resistance from Tancred and 
Raymond of Toulouse, Baldwin obtained the crown. He was an able 
ruler, and under his guidance the kingdom rapidly acquired strength. 



404 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 




Jerusalem. 



and extended its boundaries. The Fatimite princes, however, defied 
the power of the Christian king. 

Baldwin marched his army into Egypt, and obtained some success. 
But an old wound, breaking out afresh, caused his death. He recom- 
mended Baldwin du Bourg, a relation, as his successor. The Christian 
army retired from Egypt, and deposited the body of their king near 
that of his brother, (a. d. 1118.) In a council of barons and prelates 
which immediately assembled, Baldwin du Bourg was nominated by 
de Courtenay, his personal enemy, and elected king. For this gene- 
rous conduct, de Courtenay received the principality of Edessa. 

Baldwin II. reigned from 1118 to 1131, and obtained great success 
in arms. Roger, regent of xVntioch, being captured in a rash engage- 
ment with the enemy, Baldwin marched to his rescue, and gained a 
decided victory. But Balak, a petty king of the Turks, captured de 
Courtenay, and Baldwin, coming to rescue him, was also taken. De 
Courtenay, however escaped, and joining his arms to those of Eustan 
Grenier, defeated Balak, captured Tyre, and released the king of 
Jerusalem. Baldwin then defeated several Turkish armies, and 
attempted to take Damascus, but failed. He died on the 22d of Au- 
gust, and was buried in the tomb of his predecessors. 

Fulk, count of Anjou, and son-in-law of Baldwin II., now suc- 
ceeded to the throne of Jerusalem. He reigned until 1144, and left 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 405 



the state nearly as he found it. Baldwin III., his son, succeeded him. 
In the mean time, Bohemond and his nephew Tancred enlarged the 
dominions of Antioch, and left the principality, wealthy and power- 
ful, to the young Bohemond. Joscelyn de Courtenay, the valiant 
prince of Edessa, died on the field of battle, where the terror of his 
name had caused the enemy to fly. After Joscelyn's death, Zenghi, 
the Turkish hero, overturned the dominion of the Christians in Edessa, 
and massacred 30,000 persons. But Zenghi was soon after assassi- 
nated, and his sons had to struggle for the maintenance of their 
authority. 

The news of the massacre of Edessa excited a horror everywhere 
in Europe, and a thirst for vengeance became universal. Conrad III. 
the emperor, and Louis VII. of France, headed the movement which 
was to send another great expedition to the East ; and St. Bernard, 
then the oracle of Christianity, Avent to the council of Vezelay, to 
preach the second crusade to assembled thousands. Louis VII. and 
Eleanor, his queen, were very enthusiastic in the cause. Having com- 
pleted his preparations, the king took the consecrated banner and 
pilgrim's staff and wallet from the abbey of St. Denis, received the 
blessing of Pope Eugenius, and at the head of a hundred thousand 
warriors, marched through Germany towards Constantinople. 

Conrad III. with another army preceded the king of France. 
The Greek emperor, Manuel, fortified his cities and refused to receive 
the barbarous Germans. Conrad did not seek a meeting, but imme- 
diately crossed the Bosphorus. Louis VII. and his army were well 
received and cordially treated by Manuel, who wished to conciliate 
the French. In the mean time, the subjects of the Greek emperor 
were guilty of most annoying practices toward Conrad's followers, 
cheating and misleading them at every opportunity. Only one-tenth 
of the German emperor's forces survived to join Louis. Famine in 
the desert and the attacks of the enemy had destroyed the rest. 
Receiving most affectionate invitations to Constantinople from the 
crafty Greek emperor, Conrad gladly went thither, and left Louis to 
bear the burden of the expedition. 

The French monarch led his army through Asia Minor to the banks 
of the Meander. In the passage of this river, a severe battle was 
fought, in which Louis displayed great valour, and his men performed 
deeds of daring and perseverance. The Moslems were defeated with 
immense loss. By this victory, the crusaders gained possession of 
Laodicea, and they next proceeded to cross the mountains between 
that city and Satalia. In the defiles of Cadmus, they were attacked 
by the Turks, and a desperate struggle ensued. The French king, 



406 SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 



separated from his army, performed prodigies of valour, and though 
at one time surrounded, succeeded in escaping unhurt. During the 
twelve days' march to Satalia, the crusaders were four times attacked 
by the Turks, and each time they repulsed them. Louis and the 
chiefs of the army left it at Satalia under the command of Thierry of 
Flanders, and sailed to Antioch. In the mean time, the Turks proved 
faithless to a treaty, and murdered nearly all the unfortunate pilgrims. 

From Antioch, Louis proceeded to Jerusalem, where he found Con- 
rad, with the dukes of Savoy and Saxony, and the German band. 
The arms of the Christian heroes were now directed to the relief of 
Damascus from the yoke of the infidels. Louis and Conrad signalized 
their valour during the siege. The town was on the point of capitu- 
lation, when a dispute arose as to who should possess the prize. When 
it was adjudged to Thierry of Flanders, the barons of Palestine were 
offended, and commenced negotiating with the infidels. The sons of 
Zenghi, in the mean time, threw fresh squadrons into the town, and 
the besiegers were compelled to retire, sorrowful and disgraced. 

The supremacy of Christianity in Jerusalem and the adjacent coun- 
try seemed about to decay. The councils of the chiefs there presented 
nothing but feuds and rivalry. Conrad returned to Europe, and Louis 
soon followed him. The abbot of St. Denis made an attempt to excite 
the spirit of another crusade, but his death left the Christians in the 
East without hope of succour. The great Saladin had already appeared 
upon the theatre of his future exploits ; and by his talents and the aid 
of fortunate circumstances, united the two great divisions of the Mos- 
lems. Acknowledged as the head of the Moslem cause, Saladin was 
not long in finding occasion for attacking the Christians in their 
stronghold. 

Reginald, lord of Karac and Montreal, on the Arabian frontiers of 
Palestine, disregarding all treaties, perpetually plundered the subjects 
of the Moslem prince. Saladin swore to avenge them, and, assembling 
an army, avowed his intention of capturing the Holy City itself. 
Tiberias was first besieged. Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, 
emptied the Christian cities of their garrisons for the purpose of form- 
ing an army, and a great battle was fought on the plain near Tiberias. 
Saladin and his superior numbers were victorious, and the Christians 
were massacred. Lusignan was spared by the conqueror, but 230 
Templars were put to death. After the battle, Saladin knew how to 
follow up such a decisive victory. Acre, Jaffa, Cesarea, Beritus, and 
Tiberias fell, and Tyre was besieged. Ascalon capitulated, and the 
conqueror soon after planted his crescent standard beneath the walls 
of Jerusalem. In fourteen days, the walls were undermined, and the 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 



407 




garrison accepted the moderate terms offered them by the generous 
Moslem prince. (October 2, 1187.) The nobles and military were to 
be sent to Tyre, and the Latin Christians to become slaves, unless 
redeemed at a certain rate. Once again the crescent was triumphant 
at the Holy City and the sepulchre. With Jerusalem, fell the cities 
and territories of Ascalon, Laodicea, Gabala, Sidon, Nazareth, and 
Bethlehem ; but the spirit of freedom and the valour of Conrad of 
Montferrat preserved the city of Tyre against all attacks. 

The news of the battle of Tiberias and its consequences spread con- 
sternation throughout Europe. Pope Urban III. died of grief. His 
successor called upon all the princes and nobles of the "West for relief, 
and William, archbishop of Tyre, went to preach a new crusade in 
France, England, and Germany. The German emperor, Frederick 
Barbarossa, with a hundred thousand men, set out for the Holy Land. 



408 SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 



This vast army was nearly destroyed in traversing Asia. Philip 
Augustus of France and Richard Coeur de Lion of England deter- 
mined to proceed with their followers by sea to Palestine. A dispute 
occurring between the two monarchs, they proceeded separately. 
Both wintered in Sicily. Philip Augustus arrived first at Acre. 
Richard, in the mean time, conquered the island of Cyprus from the 
Greek emperor, and gave it to Guy de Lusignan in exchange for the 
crown of Jerusalem. 

Frederick Barbarossa gained various victories over the Saracens ; 
but when, on the 10th of June, 1190, the army was crossing the 
Cydnus, the old warrior, to whom the passage over the bridge was far 
too slow, dashed with his war-horse into the stream ; but the current 
was too strong, and bore him away. When reached, he was found to 
be dead. Frederick's army marched, under the duke of Suabia, 
toward Acre. 

While these events were in progress, the heroic example of Conrad 
of Montferrat had inspirited the Christians of the East. They assem- 
bled a well-appointed army, and boldly laid siege to Acre, the key of 
Palestine. Saladin did not at first regard this movement as important, 
but he soon found the Christians gaining strength, and when he came 
to the relief of Acre, he found it almost impossible to throw succour 
into it. The besiegers had not made much progress towards the cap- 
ture of the town at the end of twenty-two months, when Richard and 
Philip Augustus reached their camp. Saladin now attacked the cru- 
saders with great vigour, but was repulsed. At the same time the 
defenders of Acre repulsed the most determined efforts of the besiegers. 
The greatest reach of bravery was displayed by both parties. At 
length, more than two years from the commencement of the siege, the 
garrison Avas compelled to capitulate, and Richard and Philip, the 
rival heroes, entered the city in triumph. 

A few weeks after the capture of Acre, Philip announced his inten- 
tion of returning to France. Richard assented, but made him promise 
not to make war on the English until forty days after the return of 
their king. The walls and houses of Acre were repaired by Richard's 
orders. Saladin strove to move the English king to mercy toward his 
prisoners, but in vain. Richard massacred all the prisoners of the 
poorer class, reserving the emirs and others for whom a high ransom 
was expected. The nobility of Saladin's conduct stands in bright 
contrast by that of the Christian monarch. 

From Acre, Richard, with 30,000 men, marched to the south. 
Clouds of Saracens harassed his progress, and near Azotus he was 
obliged to come to a general engagement. Here the lion-hearted king 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 409 



made the Saracens feel the terrible power of his arm. In a short time 
they were entirely routed and flying in all directions. Returning 
from the pursuit and massacre, the crusaders found themselves 
attacked by Fake-ed-dun, the nephew of Saladin, at the head of 
20,000 men. A desperate contest ensued, and the arrival of Richard 
alone saved the day. In this battle, Saladin lost more than eight 
thousand soldiers; Richard only lost one thousand men, (a. d. 1191.) 
The crusaders now found their progress unmolested. Saladin 
adopted the policy of drawing off his soldiers to dismantle all the fort- 
resses in Palestine. At Jaffa, the invaders paused to restore the 
fortifications, and while the work was progressing, Richard amused 
himself with falconry. A very narrow escape from capture by the 
enemy caused him to be more upon his guard. When the fortifications 
of Jafia were completed, Saladin opened negotiations for the purpose 
of delaying the progress of the crusaders. These terminated fruit- 
lessly, and the crusaders set out for Ascalon, where they applied 
themselves to rebuilding the walls. The duke of Austria refusing to 
bear a part in the labour, pleading that he was neither a carpenter 
nor a mason, Richard became enraged, smote him in the breast with 
his foot, and ordered him to depart with his vassals immediately from 
the Christian camp. The duke retired, muttering vengeance. 

Meanwhile, trouble in England demanded the presence of Richard: 
he announced his intention of returning, and the choice of a successor 
in the command became necessary. The public voice named Conrad 
of Montferrat, and Richard gave his assent ; but while preparing for 
his coronation, the valiant Conrad was assassinated. Henry of Cham- 
pagne was then chosen to fill the throne of Jerusalem. Richard now 
proposed to march to the Holy City; but the Templars and Hospital- 
lers, thinking that its capture would end the crusade, dissuaded the 
kmg from it. This delay caused violent disputes among the Chris- 
tians, of which Saladin took advantage to lay siege to Jaffa. This 
town was saved by the individual prowess of Richard. Taking only 
five hundred knights with him, he cut his way through the besfegers, 
and, heading the garrison, made great slaughter among the Saracens! 
A truce was then agreed upon for three years and eight months; the 
fort at Ascalon was to be destroyed. Acre and Jaffa were to remain . 
m the hands of the Christians, and the people of the West were to be 
allowed to visit Jerusalem free from taxation. The valiant and gene- 
rous Saladin died at Damascus, soon after the conclusion of the truce. 
In his whole life he discovered features of nobility, which entitle him 
to rank as the greatest monarch of his age. 

Richard sailed for Europe; was shipwrecked near Aquilea; put on 



410 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 




Richard C'X'ur da Lion at Jaffa. 



the disguise of a merchant and attempted to pass through Germany, 
but was arrested by order of the duke of Austria and thrown into 
prison. There he remained till his people paid the ransom of one 
hundred thousand marks, when he returned to England. 

Scarcely had the tumult of the third crusade subsided, than the 
terrors of famine and war threatened the Christians in Palestine. A 
council was convoked at Worms, and Henry VI., emperor of Ger- 
many, avowed his intention of taking the cross. The forces which, 
through his exertions, were called into the field, were divided into 
three great armies. One, under the bishop of Mentz, marched into 
Hungary; another marched to Lower Saxony, to go by sea to the 
Holy Land ; and the third marched into Italy, to punish the Norman 
rebels. The rebels were humbled, and their chief put to death with 
such exquisite torture that the empress, by whose right he held the 
country, renounced her conjugal faith, and joined the people in a war 
for the recovery of their liberties. Henry was compelled to submit 
to the terms imposed by the empress ; he died not long after, it is 
supposed of poison administered by her hand. 

The third crusade was the last in which armies contended for the 
Holy Land upon its own soil. In the others which were undertaken, 
many splendid deeds were done, but Jerusalem and the Holy Sepul- 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 411 



chre never rewarded the adventurers for their toils and expenditure. 
Before the next great expedition, occurred the crusade against the 
Albigenses, a species of sectarians in the south of France, whom Pope 
Innocent III. had denounced as heretics, because of their opposition 
to the power and influence of the clergy. Simon de Montfort headed 
the army that marched against the Albigenses. The count of Tou- 
louse, who protected these people, was robbed of all his possessions ; 
and the knights of the cross laboured to exterminate those they 
regarded as heretics, (a. d. 1209.) 

The fourth crusade was undertaken chiefly by French and Germans, 
headed by Baldwin of Flanders. The Venetians furnished them with 
ships, for which they received payment in money and territory. 
Murtzufle having usurped the Greek imperial throne, the crusaders 
found a pretext for interference, and laid siege to Constantinople on 
the 12th of April, 1204. The city was captured without much difli- 
culty. For several days, the inhabitants endured the horrors of mas- 
sacre and pillage. The sacred edifices were subjected to every species 
of profanation, and every thing valuable became the spoil of ruthless 
soldiers. Baldwin of Flanders was elected emperor, and Murtzufle 
was condemned to be thrown headlong from the top of a lofty column. 
The Venetians also gained much territory. The pope, for the time, 
was possessed of the whole Eastern church, then considered an object 
of more importance than the possession of the Holy Land. But a 
descendant of the Comnenus family soon found means to shake Bald- 
win's powder, and Avithin half a century Constantinople was again in 
possession of the Greeks. 

Frederic II. of Germany, at his coronation, vowed to go in person 
to the Holy Land. The pope repeatedly called upon him to perform 
his promise, but he found many excuses. The army assembled for a 
new crusade was forced to march under the lead of King John of Hun- 
gary. On reaching Ptolemais they found Conradin, the nephew of 
Saladin, with a great army of Saracens. The Christians advanced to 
give him battle, but he considered them superior and retired. Dami- 
etta was then besieged, and taken after an eighteen months' resistance. 
John of Brienne, who now commanded the crusaders, was an able 
warrior; but Cardinal Albaro was appointed to succeed him by the 
pope, and all the advantages previously gained were lost. By the 
address of Meledin, the ruler of Egypt, the ships of the Christians 
were destroyed, and their destruction seemed impending, when a 
dishonourable peace was concluded. The Christians surrendered 
Damietta, and bound themselves not to serve against Meledin for 
eight years. 



412 SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 



In the mean time, Frederic Hohenstaufen was engaged in struggling 
against the power of the pope; but he at length set out on the expedi- 
tion so long delayed, in defiance of the papal authority. No battles 
were fought, however, and no infidels destroyed. Frederic concluded 
a treaty with Meledin, by which he gained Jerusalem and many of the 
cities for which the first crusaders had fought. The emperor then 
granted the sultan a truce of ten years, and returned to Italy, (a. D. 
1230.) 

The long and ardent struggle betAveen Frederic and the pope, which 
commenced after his return to his empire, overwhelmed all thoughts 
of the Holy Land. After the death of Philip Augustus of France, 
his son, Louis VIII. , following the pernicious advice of his counsellors, 
assembled an army of fifty thousand men and besieged Avignon, the 
stronghold of the Albigenses. The citizens fought with stubborn 
courage, but were finally compelled to surrender upon very hard 
terms. 

The successor of Louis VIII. was the virtuous and able Louis IX., 
afterward called St. Louis. Falling sick, this prince became alarmed, 
and vowed to lead an army against the infidels. The greater part 
of the princes of the blood and of his vassals accompanied Louis in 
this expedition, which set sail from Marseilles for Cyprus. It was 
determined that Egypt should be the object of attack. Early in June, 
1249, the prodigious army of Christians appeared before Damietta, 
and soon captured it. But in the battle of Massoura, the Saracens 
were triumphant in spite of the heroic exertions of Louis ; the king 
and his two brothers were taken by the enemy. In captivity, the 
character of Louis shone with its true brilliancy. It was proposed 
to him to purchase his liberty by the surrender of Damietta and the 
payment of a million of bezants. To this he replied, " A king of 
France may not buy himself with gold ; we will give you Damietta 
for my deliverance, and the million of bezants for my army." The 
sultan, pleased with the hearing of the captive monarch, abated one- 
fifth of the demand. Before the treaty was concluded, the revolting 
emirs put the sultan to death, and Louis was exposed to new dangers ; 
but he escaped them all, and arrived safely at Ptolemais with the 
remnant of his army. In 1254 he returned to France. 

But Louis never abandoned the thought of a second crusade. The 
taking of Antioch by Bibars was the signal for its commencement, 
and a powerful army of crusaders proceeded against the infidel pos- 
sessions in Northern Africa. The hope of converting the king of 
Tunis induced Louis to march against that city ; but a tedious siege 
and a mortal disease were his reward. A pestilence commenced its 



SYRIA — THE CRUSADES. 413 



ravages among the crusaders ; the king's two sons died, and Louis 
himself was at length attacked. Finding his end approaching, he 
caused himself to be laid upon a bed of ashes, where he remained 
until his dissolution, which happened just at sunset on the 25th of 
August, A. D. 1270. 

Charles of Anjou now arrived with provisions and reinforcements, 
and took command of the armj. All hope of a triumphant termina- 
tion to the enterprise was now vain. Two months after the arrival 
of Charles a treaty was concluded with the king of Tunis, by which 
he agreed to release the Christian prisoners and pay the expenses of 
the war. This, the last crusade, was extremely unfortunate. On its 
return, eighteen large vessels, many transports, soldiers, and much 
booty were lost in a storm off Tripani. When Philip III. entered 
Paris, he was followed by the coffins of his father, wife, child, brother 
and of the king of Navarre. ' 

Although the crusades were attended by the ferocious and sant^ui- 
nary spirit which marks the time in which they occurred, they were 
upon the whole, most beneficial to Europe. They united the nations 
of the Christian continent ; made them more intimately acquainted 
with each other's laws, customs, and institutions; increased the desire 
for and the means of commercial intercourse ; checked the rapid pro- 
gress of Mohammedanism, and perfected chivalry. 





THE TURKISH OR OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 



THE Turks are of Tartarian or 
Sc^'thian origin. The appella- 
tion was first given to them in 
the middle ages, as a proper 
name. Previous to that time 
it had been a general title of 
honour to all the nations com- 
prehended under the two 
branches, Tartar and Mongol. 
The nation to which the name 
of Turks has been peculiarly 
given dwelt between the Black and Caspian Seas, and first became 
known in the seventh century, when Heraclius, .emperor of the East, 
took them into his service. They became so distinguished for bravery, 
that the Arabian caliphs took large bodies of them into their service. 
Gradually getting power in their hands, they dethroned the caliphs at 
pleasure. The Turks became Mohammedans when they intermixed 
with the Arabians. 

414 




THE TURKISH OR OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 



415 




Barts 



The origin of the Ottoman empire is traced to the successes of 
Genghis Khan, who issued from Great Tartarj and made himself 
master of a vast tract of country, including Persia and Asia Minor. 
In the year 1214, Shah, incited by the example of Genghis Khan, 
passed Mount Caucasus with fifty thousand men, and penetrated as 
far as the borders of Syria, and Asia Minor as far as the Euphrates. 
Othman, his grandson, made himself master of several countries in 
Lesser Asia, and having, in 1300, at the city of Carachifer, assumed 
the title of Emperor of the Othmans, called his people after his own 
name. Orchan, the successor of Othman, and his sons Solyman and 
Amurath, made extensive conquests in the territories of the Greek 
empire. Bajazet I., the successor of Amurath, was very successful 
both in Europe and Asia, defeating the Christians near Nicopolis. 
But the progress of his arms was arrested by Tamerlane, or Timour 
the Tartar, who, after conquering vast territories in Asia, defeated 
Bajazet and took him prisoner. 

Mohammed I. and Amurath II. gained many victories over the 
Christians, and completely cut off the Byzantine Empire from the 
West. Mohammed II., a bold and ambitious prince, completed the 
work of conquest. He besieged Constantinople, and captured it on 
the 29th of May, 1453. Constantino XI. buried himself under the 
ruins of his throne. After this, the arms of Mohammed were suc- 
cessful, in the Morea, against the emperor of Trebizond, whom he 



416 



THE TURKISH OR OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 










Solyman II. 

captured, — in Negropont, Lemnos, CafFa, and against the Tartars. 
But the heroism of George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, defended 
Epirus against all the efforts of the concjueror. After the death of 
Scanderbeg, Epirus fell an easy prey to the ambitious Turk. 

Selim I., Avho had dethroned and murdered his father, drove back 
the Persian power to the Euphrates and Tigris, defeated the Mame- 
lukes, and, in 1517, conquered Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. Soly- 
man II., surnamed the Magnificent, made the arms of the Ottomans 
terrible to Europe. He captured the isle of Rhodes, subdued about 
half of Hungary, exacted a tribute from Moldavia, and was preparing 
to overrun the whole West, when he was checked before the walls of 
Vienna by John Sobieski. But as the successful corsair Barbarossa 
was master of the Mediterranean, had conquered Northern Africa, and 
laid waste Minorca, Sicily, Apulia, and Corfu, Solyman might have 
conquered Europe if he had given firmness and consistency to his 
plans. The Venetians defeated his fleets at sea, and Triny and Lava- 
lette resisted his efforts upon land. Under Solyman II. the power 
of the Ottomans attained its greatest height and splendour, and from 
his death, in 15GG, it waned. Many of the conquests of twelve victo- 
rious sultans were lost. Civil wars distracted the government. The 
deposition and murder of sultans became a common occurrence. Se- 
lim II. conquered Cyprus in 1571, but in the same year Don John of 
Austria defeated the Turkish fleet at Lepanto. A century after, in 
1669, Candia was taken, and the Hungarians supported in a revolt 



THE TURKISH OR OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 



41T 




Don John of Austria. 



from Austria. But in the next year Mohammed IV. was repulsed 
from Vienna, defeated at Mohacz, and forced to retire from most of 
the strong places in Hungary. His successor, Mustapha II., was still 
more unfortunate, being defeated by the hero Eugene and the Russian 
czar, Peter the Great. When a treaty of peace was concluded, he was 
forced to surrender the Morea to the Venetians, Podoria and the Ukraine 
to Poland, and Azoph to the Russians. A revolt of the janizaries 
forced the sultan to abdicate. His successor, Achmet III., was a 
weak and voluptuous prince. Involved in a war with Russia, Austria, 
and Venice, at the same time, the Ottomans were defeated several 
times by Eugene, and compelled to give up Temeswar, Belgrade, and 
parts of Servia and Wallachia. In 1736 the Russian general, Mun- 
mich, defeated the Ottomans ; but they, in turn, defeated the Austri- 
ans, and regained Servia, Wallachia, and Belgrade. 

Catherine, empress of Russia, became involved in a war with Tur- 
key, and sent two powerful armies into Moldavia. At first, the Turks 
gained some advantages over one of these armies. But, under another 

27 



418 THE TURKISH OR OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 



leader, they were defeated, with the loss of thirty thousand men. In 
1770, Catherine sent a powerful Russian fleet into the Mediterranean, 
which ravaged the Morea, and annoyed the Turkish commerce. But 
the Russians were driven from the Morea by the Albanians. On the 
5th of July, a terrible battle was fought between the two fleets, which 
resulted in the Turkish fleet being defeated and destroyed. On land, 
the Turks were several times defeated, and the sultan was compelled to 
accept the terms of the conqueror, (July, 1774.) Peace, however, was 
not lon";-lived. The designs of the Russian court once more called 
the Turks to the field, (1787.) The emperor of Germany led a for- 
midable army into Hungary ; but his progress was checked by the 
surprising skill and valour of the Turks. The Russians were victorious 
upon the sea. Peace was finally concluded by the mediation of Great 
Britain and Prussia. By the treaty, several towns and districts were 
added to the Russian dominions. 

In 1798 the Porte declared war against France, and was supported 
by Russia and Great Britain. This alliance was productive of various 
successes, but it did not endure. In 1806 the encroachments of 
Russia induced the Porte to declare war against that country. An 
English fleet now forced the passage of the Dardanelles, and appeared 
before Constantinople, which, however, was saved by the conduct of 
the French general, Sebastiani. In 1809 Mahmoud concluded a 
treaty of peace with Great Britain, and then drove the Russians 
beyond the Danube. But in the divan Russian policy triumphed, 
and peace Avas made by the surrender of various important posts and 
tracts of territory. 

In 1821 the Greeks revolted, and a long and terrible struggle en- 
sued. The Greeks were generally victorious over superior numbers. 
INIassacre and desolation visited some of the Greek islands and the 
Morea. But the strongest and most fearful exertions of the Turks 
could not quench the fire of liberty. The Greek admiral Miaulls was 
victorious at sea. Marco Bozzaris and other heroic leaders were very 
successful on land. At length Great Britain, France, and Russia in- 
terfered, to put an end to this horrid warfare. The combined fleets 
of these nations entered the bay of Navarino on the 22d of September, 
1826. The Turco-Egyptian fleet, under Ibrahim Pacha, was there 
stationed. A battle ensued, in which the Turco-Egyptian armada, of 
one hundred and ten ships, was nearly destroyed. This great victory 
was soon followed by a recognition of Grecian independence. 

The institutions, manners, and customs of the Turks are peculiar 
and interesting. The Koran of Mohammed is the supreme law of the 
empire. Although the sultan is despotic, he cannot interfere with its 



THE TURKISH OR OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 423 

dictates. All Mussulmans are eligible to the highest offices of the state. 
The Mufti, or head of the clergy, takes precedence of every other 
officer, not excepting the grand vizier. The " Ulema" is a council, 
consisting of the ministers of religion and the interpreters and ad- 
ministrators of the law. Public baths and khans, or caravansaries, 
are found in most parts of Turkey, and the use of the warm bath is 
common among all classes. The harem, devoted to the exclusive use 
of women, is the most magnificent apartment of a Turk's house. 
Such is the privacy of this harem, that, unless on very rare occasions, 
no man enters there but the master of the house. Polygamy is not 
common, though authorized by the Koran. 

Some externals of the Ottoman religion, besides the prescribed ab- 
lutions, are prayers— which are said five times in every twenty-four 
hours, Avith the face turned toward Mecca— and alms, which are both 
enjoined and voluntary ; devotional feasts, and a pilgrimage, personal 
or by proxy, once in a lifetime, to the Caaba, or house of God, at 
Mecca. The month of Ramadan is observed as a fast, during which 
the Turks neither eat nor smoke from dawn till sunset. Religious 
ceremonies appear to be the Turk's only public pleasures. Their 
country comprises some of the most productive provinces in Europe. 
The vine is successfully cultivated, but wine is not a favourite drink 
among them. In the manufacture of silks, satins, carpets, and gold 
and silver lace, the Turks cannot be excelled ; and their costumes are 
gaudily decorated with the finest specimens of their skill. The cha- 
racter of this people may be set down as proud, arbitrary, sensual ; 
capable of extraordinary exertion when aroused, but generally in- 
dolent. 





Persian King and great Oriicers. 



PERSIA. 




HE early history of Persia is interwoven with 
that of Greece. The reader will find an account 
of it under the head of Greece, and we will now 
proceed to give a general idea of it from the 
death of Alexander the Great. On the dissolu- 
tion of the Macedonian empire, the Seleucides ruled over Persia until 
246 B. C. They were succeeded by the Arsacides, who founded the em- 
pire of the Parthians, which existed until 229 a. d. Artaxerxes then 
obtained the sovereignty of Central Asia, and left it to his descend- 

424 



PERSIA. 



425 










Ancient Persian fcioldieTS. 



ants, the Sassanides, -who ruled 407 years. Ardsliir, son of Sassan, 
ruled from 218 to 241. The wars with the Romans which he carried 
on were continued under his successor, Sapor I., against Gordian and 
Valerian. When Sapor the Great attained his full age, the empire 
had recovered its strength. He checked the incursions of the Arabs, 
and contended successfully with the Roman emperors. Jovian pur- 
chased peace by the cession of five valuable provinces. Sapor extended 
his conquests into Tartary and India, and when he died, left a vast 
empire to his successor. 

War and peace followed each other after the death of Sapor, with- 
out any interesting events. The decline of the empire was owing to 
domestic feuds, long and bloody. In 632, the caliph Omar attacked 
the Persians, and the empire became the prey of Arabs and Turks. 
With the conquest of Persia by the caliphs, begins the history of the 
modern Persian empire. During the dominion of the Arabs, which 



426 



PERSIA. 




Ismail Sophi. 

lasted from 636 to 1220, Persia continued to be divided into numerous 
petty states, whose history is unimportant to the world. Genghis 
Khan founded the Tartar and Mongul power in Persia, and his suc- 
cessors set up a separate empire, which existed until the great Tamer- 
lane appeared and subdued it. Upon the death of this conqueror, the 
Turcomans took possession of Persia, and remained masters of it for 
a hundred years. The power of the Turcomans at length yielded to 
the craft of Ismail Sophi, (1505,) who made use of religious fanati- 
cism to attain his end. He assumed the name of a shah, made ex- 
tensive conquests, and founded a new dynasty. His successors were 
defeated in their efforts against the Turks and Usbecks, and lost much 
territory. 

But Shah Abbas the Great (1587 to 1629) re-established the empire 
by his conquests. He took from the Turks, Armenia, Irak Arabi, 
Mesopotamia, the cities of Tauris, Bagdad, and Bassora ; Kho- 
rasan from the Usbecks ; Ormuz from the Portuguese ; and Khanda- 
har from the Monguls ; and humbled Georgia, which had refused to 
pay tribute. He introduced absolute power into Persia, transferred 
his residence to Ispahan, and instituted the pilgrimage to Meshid, in 
order to abolish that to Mecca, among the Persians. The conquests 



PERSIA. 



427 




Shah Abbas the Great. 



of this great sovereign were lost under his successors. Mir Mahmoud 
and his AfFghans conquered the whole empire in 1722. But Mahmoud 
became insane ; anarchy ensued ; and then the iron-nerved Thamas, 
more widely known as Kouli Khan, appeared upon the scene. This 
man was the son of a shepherd. Purchasing the services of a band 
of robbers, he conquered a province, and became powerful enough to 
dethrone an usurper of the Persian throne, to place two others in his 
stead, and, finally, to ascend the throne himself, under the title of 
Nadir Shah. He restored Persia to her former strength and import- 
ance by successful wars and a vigorous government. The emperor 
of the Indies was subdued and compelled to pay a tribute, while an 
immense booty rewarded the energy of Nadir. It required prudence 
and wisdom to hold together such an empire as Nadir now possessed. 
But having for some cause put out his son's eyes, remorse for the 
crime made him suddenly very cruel, as if he had become insane. He 
was assassinated a. d. 1747 ; and as usual after the death of a great 
conqueror, his empire was torn to pieces by weak but aspiring princes. 
Ali, nephew of Nadir, became king of Persia. From this time until 
1812, nothing of importance occurs. In that year the Persians were 
obliged to surrender to Russia the whole of Dhagestan, the Khanats 
of Kuba, Shirvan, Baku, Salian, Talishah, Karauchb, and Grandsha, 
and to admit Russian vessels upon the Caspian Sea. In 1826, the 
Persians, under Feth Ali, were induced to attack Russia, by a belief 
that the Russians were distracted by domestic quarrels. They invaded 



428 



PERSIA. 




L_Uii Lhan. 



tlie Russian territory, excited a revolt among the Mohammedan popu- 
lation, and advanced as far as Elizabethpol, without a declaration of 
war. But the Russians, under Paskiewitsch, defeated them in several 
battles, conquered the country of the Araxes, and when a treaty of 
peace was concluded, retained it. The present monarch of Persia, 
Abbas Mirza, is prudent enough to conciliate so dangerous an animal 
as the Russian bear, and devotes himself to strengthening his empire 
and improving his subjects. The government is absolute, but the 
right of succession is undefined, and generally rests with the strongest. 
The religion of the Persians is Mohammedan, of the Ali sect. The 
people are remarkable for liveliness and politeness, in which qualities 
they are not excelled by the French. No oriental nation possesses 
richer literary treasui^es of the earlier periods, but their acquaintance 
with useful science or the fine arts is crude and narrow. 



/^^N. 





Hou-qua. 



CHINA AND TARTARY. 




THE early history of the 
Chinese, who now inhabit 
one of the most genial and 
productive portions of the 
Asiatic continent, is sur- 
rounded with an obscurity 
only broken by an occa- 
sional ray of truth. But 
enough is known to enable 
us to trace the foundation of the power and of the institutions of the 
nation to a philosopher named Confucius, a contemporary of Solon, 
lawgiver of Athens, and son of the chief minister at the court of the 
king of Loo. ^ This man attained to great influence in the state, en- 
acted many wise laws, and wrote books which are still regarded by the 
Chinese with the same reverence with which the Mohammedan regards 

429 



430 



CHINA AND TARTARY. 




the Koran. Confucius endeavoured to unite in one great confedera- 
tion the numerous states which harassed each other by continual 
wars, and partly succeeded. About 248 b. c, Chinese history becomes 
clearer to the view. In that year, Che-Hwang-te, the founder of the 
Tsin dynasty, ascended the throne. This great warrior subdued all 
the petty states, and then turned his attention to defending his empire 
against the regular and distressing incursions of the Huns, or Tar- 
tars. By the stern exercise of absolute power, he commanded every 
third man in the empire to assist in building that great wall, which 
is now the greatest monument of human labour. 

^^^^^K„ ;^*^5j==_^ When this work was completed the 

people of China felt secure from all 
invasion. Che-Hwang-te, though in 
many respects a just and wise mo- 
narch, was guilty of attempting to 
destroy the works of Confucius, as 
Avell as those learned in those works. 
But he failed ; and his death occurred 
soon afterAvard. 

Upon the death of the powerful 
Che-Hwang-te, anarchy took the place of the peaceful rule of the 
despot. But Lien Pang, originally the captain of a band of robbers, 
and a man of iron nerve and superior mind, restored order, and mount- 
ing the throne, assumed the name of Kaonto. During the reign of 
his son Woote, calamity in various shapes visited the empire. But the 
annoying Huns were entirely defeated by the emperor and forced to 
sue for peace. From this time until A. D. 420, the history of China 
may be summed up in three words — famine, pestilence, and invasion. 
The fierce Huns and the still fiercer Tartars carried death and desola- 
tion through many of the fairest portions of the empire. At length 
the empire was divided into two — the Northern and Southern ; and 
the last of the Tsin dynasty murdered. Several reckless, cruel, and dis- 
solute monarchs now occupied the thrones. But in 502, Woote, the 
founder of the Leang dynasty, and a mild, active, and learned prince, 
ascended the throne of the South. His administration of affairs was 
vigorous and beneficial to his people. A series of weak and cruel 
monarchs succeeded him. In 572, Yankeen, a powerful and warlike 
noble, ascended the Southern throne and consolidated the two empires. 
He then drove back the marauding bands of Tartars, and secured the 
blessings of peace and prosperity to his subjects. Yangte, his son and 
successor, was his equal in talent and energy, and ruled the empire 
with great benefit to the people. Yangte was murdered, and Kaon- 



CHINA AND TARTARY. 



433 




Taou-tsoo. 



tsoo, a man of still greater talents, ascended the throne. He checked 
the progress of the Turks, chastised the Tartars, and ruled the empire 
twenty-two years. Of the next seventeen monarchs, nothing is pre- 
served that is worthy of mention. 

Chwang-tsung, a brave and skilful warrior, founded the How Tang 
dynasty. This monarch and several of his family reigned with justice 

28 



43i 



CHINA AND TARTART. 




Tamerlane. 



and vigour. But the outrageously cruel character of one of his de- 
scendants caused the expulsion of the family. Kaon-tse then ascended 
the throne, founding the How-tsin d3'nasty. His minister Hung-taien, 
is said to have invented printing from blocks, (937.) This dynasty 
was short-lived. It gave place in 960 to the Sung dynasty, founded 
by Taou-tsoo, one of the best of the Chinese monarchs. But he was 
not secured on the throne Avithout a long and desperate struggle with 
a native faction, aided by the Tartars. Taou-tsoo was said to be 
" the terror of his enemies, and the delight of his friends." The suc- 
cessors of this powerful prince Avere weak and indolent, preferring 
to pay a tribute to the Tartars to fighting against them. The Tar- 
tars and Mongols saw the almost powerless state of the empire, and 
on being hired to fight against its enemies, they refused to quit it, 
when their services were no longer needed, and finally made them- 
selves masters of it. The imperial family was destroyed or carried 
into captivity. 

In 1194, the famous Genghis Khan was at the head of the Mongols, 
and had been distinguished as an able and successful warrior. Called 
to defend the Chinese from the other Tartars, Genghis made war upon 
the natives and conquered all the northern provinces. His son Kublai 
was equal to him in talent and energy. After a fierce and bloody 
struggle, Kublai conquered the rich northern provinces ; and in 1279, 
he ascended the imperial throne under the title of Shi-tsu. He was the 
founder of the Yuen dynasty. Not satisfied with the vast empire of 



CHINA AND TARTARY. 



435 



China, Kublai undertook the conquest of Japan. But in this he was 
signally defeated. He died in 1295, and it was not until his grandson, 
Tching-sung, ascended the throne that any thing worthy of mention 
occurred in China. 

Tching-Sung is better known as 
Timour (the iron) or Tamerlane. He 
was early distinguished for untiring 
energy, and quickness and fertility of 
resource. Fixing the imperial resi- 
dence at Samarcand, he began to ex- 
tend his conquests in every direc- 
tion. Persia, Georgia, and Delhi were 
compelled to yield to his power, and 
he drove the Indians quite to the Gan- 
ges. At length Bajazet, the sultan 
of the Turks, Avith a large army, en- 
countered the conqueror, who had su- 
perior numbers, and a fierce and obsti- 
nate battle was fought. The Turks 
were routed with great slaughter, and 
their brave sultan made prisoner. 
After this great victory, Tamerlane was 
recognised as the monarch of nearly 
all Asia. Bajazet was carried about 
A Chinese Soldier. j^ an iron Cage until he died, (1303.) 

Insurrections in China now induced the conqtreror to return thither. On 
his way he was seized with a fever, which checked his enterprises by 
death in 1305. The vast empire which he had founded ended with 
him. It was broken up by revolts and struggles between princes and 
generals. A great portion of it still held together under the govern- 
ment of the emperors of China. The successors of Tamerlane fought 
many battles with the Tartars and Japanese pirates, and with some 
disastrous checks were successful. 

In the early part of the sixteenth century, some Portuguese traders 
appeared in China. They were almost the first Europeans who visited 
the empire, and many of them paid with their lives the penalty of 
their daring. But after this event, a profitable trade was opened be- 
tween the Portuguese and China. When, in 1627, Hwae-tsung as- 
cended the throne of China, the Tartars, in great force, broke into 
the empire, and conquering city after city, and army after army, 
finally mastered the northern provinces. The emperor and about 
two hundred thousand of his people were destroyed at one time, by 




436 CHINA AND TARTARY. 



the overflowing of the Hoang-ho. But Woo-sanquei, aided by the 
Mantchoo Tartars, upheld the cause of the emperor after his death, 
and succeeded in driving the other Tartars out of the empire. The 
Mantchoos, however, took possession of the northern provinces and 
elected a sovereign. So that there were again two emperors in China. 
The Mantchoo emperor soon mastered the south and became sole 
sovereign. The reign of this monarch was peaceful and happy. But 
that of his successor was disturbed by the ambitious movements of 
Woo-sanquei, from whose forces the use of cannon alone saved the 
throne. 

Keenlung ascended the throne in 1735, and, during a reign of sixty 
years, was perpetually engaged in war. Some of his expeditions were 
disastrous, but most were successful, and he is said to have caused an 
immense amount of bloodshed. His successor persecuted and tortured 
the Portuguese missionaries who had arrived in the empire to preach 
Christianity. From this time until the war between China and Great 
Britain, no event worthy of especial mention occurs in the history 
of the Chinese. 

The difficulty between the English and Chinese originated in the 
refusal of the latter to permit the importation of opium. In 1796, 
the emperor, Kea-kung, prohibited the trade in this drug in the ports 
of China. From that time, of course, that trade was mere smuggling. 
In 1839, the high commissioner Lin, after proclaiming that he in- 
tended to stop the trade, threw the British commissioner and between 
two and three hundred British subjects into prison. Captain Elliot, 
the British superintende^jt, under such circumstances, surrendered 
20,000 chests of opium to Lin to be destroyed. The British factories 
were also burnt. Several affrays between English seamen and Chinese 
occurred after this event, and, in one of them, a Chinese was killed. 
Captain Elliot refused to surrender the murderer, and commissioner 
Lin, after various offensive measures concerning the ports, ordered a 
large Chinese fleet to attack the British squadron. The result was 
the repulse of the Chinese with the loss of five junks and nearly two 
hundred men. After this, war became inevitable. War was declared 
by Great Britain in 1840 ; but the Chinese strove to check the pro- 
gress of the British fleet by negotiation. Their duplicity at length 
became apparent, and, refusing all negotiations, Sir Hugh Gough, in 
command of the land forces, and Sir II. F. Senhouse, carried on a 
series of brilliant offensive operations against Canton and the Chinese 
fleet. Negotiation again induced the invaders to withdraw to Hong 
Kong ; but the obstinate refusal of the emperor to sanction the articles 
of a treaty, again called them to action, under the lead of Sir Henry 



CHINA AND TARTARY. 



437 




Earning of the British factories. 



Pottinger and Admiral Parker. With but little fighting, the English 
obtained possession of the cities of Amoy, Chusan, Cinhae, Shanghai, 
Ching-keang-foo, and a vast quantity of military stores. As they 
approached Nankin, they met commissioners, and negotiation ensued. 
The result was a treaty, by which China agreed to pay twenty-one 
million dollars in the course of four years, to cede the island of Hong 
Kong to the British crown for ever, and to open the ports of Amoy, 
Canton, Foo-choo-foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai to the British mer- 
chants. The British forces were then withdrawn from their conquests. 
The consequences of this war will, no doubt, be of immense benefit to. 
the trade of the world and to the Chinese themselves. The emperor, 
Taoeu-kwang, certainly displayed much spirit during the contest, but 



438 



CHINA AND TARTARY. 




Ho-ng EoDg. 



the miserable character of his soldiers prevented him from making any 
effectual resistance. 

At present, the Chinese empire includes a large portion of Tartary, 
and is the most populous country in the world. The institutions, 
manners, and customs of the people remain substantially the same as 
they were more than a thousand years ago, and all attempts at inno- 
vation have been carefully resisted. The raising and exporting of tea 
constitutes the chief business of the majority of the population ; and 
as they have the whole world for a market, they realize great profits 
from the trade. The Ilong merchants form a class of business men 
almost unequalled in the extent of their wealth and the number of 
agents whom they control. Of these merchants, Hou-qua, who died 
a few years since, is widely known in Europe and America. 

It appears by recent advices from China, that an insurrection is in 
progress in that country, the object of which is to overturn the 
Tartar dynasty, which has so long ruled the country, and restore the 
government to the Chinese race. The following article of intelligence 
was received in Philadelphia in September, 1851 : 

" The Chinese insurrection against the Tartar dynasty continues to 
gain strength. 



China and tartary. 



4B9 




Taoeu-kwang. 



" The following is the latest from Hong Kong on the subject of the 
Chinese insurrection : — The Tartar prime minister, Sai-shang-ha, 
whose departure from the capital for the seat of war was mentioned 
in our last monthly summary, has halted on the borders of the Hunan 
province, (the one adjoining Kwang-si,) whence he tells his lord and 
master that he finds himself surrounded by rebels to sovereign autho- 
rity, whom it is necessary to put down before proceeding further. 

" Tah-tung-ha is said to be sick. Of the other commissioner we 
hear nothing. Wu-lan-tair, lieutenant-general of Tartar troops at 



440 



CHINA AND TARTART. 



Canton, left his garrison about a fortnight ago with the intention of 
coalescing with the commissioners. 

" The pretended emperor is reported to be at present stopping at 
Sin-Chau, departmental city of Kwang-si, having a water communica- 
tion with Canton, whence it is distant about two hundred miles. In 
a letter from one of his followers, we find it stated that Teen-teh is 
himself at the head of the rebel forces, whom he led to victory ' in 
the middle term of the third month of the present year,' (about two 
months ago,) <when 10,000 of the government troops were destroyed, 
being hemmed in, in a narrow pathway through a wood in a mountain 
pass.' Having been duly proclaimed emperor, Teen-tah dates the 
commencement of his reign from the month of September of last year, 
and has published an almanac, which his emissaries are busy distri- 
buting in various parts of the empire. In Kiang-si, the province between 
Hunan and Fokien, we hear that great demonstrations are made in 
his favour." 





John Wicklifie. 



ENGLAND— EARLY ATTEMPT AT REFORMATION- 
JOHN WICKLIFFE. 

'N a subsequent part of this work we shall give extended 
historical collections of England. Our present purpose 
is to notice the man who is styled the first English 
reformer. It was his writings which gave the first im- 
pulse to the attempt at a reformation in religion, which 
forms so important a part of the history of Bohemia, 
to be noticed in the next article. 
John Wickliffe was born about the year 1324, near 
Richmond, in Yorkshire. He seems first to have distinguished him- 
self during his residence at the University of Oxford, by a controversy 
with the mendicant friars, who claimed the right of appointment to 
all academical offices. In the year 1365 he published a defence of the 
king's refusal to pay the tribute commonly called " Peter's pence," a 

441 




442 JOHN WICKLIFFE. 



service which obtained for him the friendship and protection of the 
famous John of Gaunt, to whose influence he was more than once 
indebted for escape from the machinations of his enemies. On his 
return from Bruges, whither he had been sent by the king in 1374, to 
discuss the question of tribute with the pope's legate, he published his 
"Trialogus," in which the abuses of the papacy are powerfully at- 
tacked. His views respecting the divine presence in the Eucharist 
seem not to have been very different from those of Luther. He held 
also that deadly sin in a bishop or priest absolved the people from 
their spiritual allegiance, and made the sacraments which he adminis- 
tered of none effect ; that the possession of worldly goods was not per- 
mitted to the clergy ; and that confession to a priest was unnecessary, 
provided men sincerely repented of their sins, and sought forgiveness 
from God. In the year 1884 he was suddenly seized with mortal sick- 
ness, while performing mass in his church at Lutterworth. Many 
years after Wickliffe's death, his bones were disinterred and burnt by 
his enemies. Wickliffe's most important Avork was a translation of the 
Bible into English, which the authority of John of Gaunt prevented 
the bishops from suppressing. His doctrine was carried into Bohemia 
by one of his disciples, a nobleman, Avho had come to England in 
the suite of Richard XL's first wife, Anne of Bohemia. The followers 
of Wickliffe were called Lollards, a name derived from the old Flemish 
verb lollen or luUcn,"'- (to sing softly,) and given originally to a 
brotherhood established at Antwerp for the purpose *of visiting the 
sick and burying the dead. It seems subsequently to have been a 
common term of reproach for all who resisted the authority of Rome. 
One of these early reformers. Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, suf- 
fered death for his religious opinions in 1417. 





BOHEMIA— THE MARTYRDOM OF JOHN HUSS- 
THE HUSSITE WAR. 



N the 28th of November, 1414, the famous council 
of Constance convened. Independent of those 
immediately engaged in the council, the number 
of persons whom curiosity or the love of gain at- 
tracted to Constance is said to have been at least 
one hundred and fifty thousand. Having humbled 
the three rival candidates for the papal authority, 
the council proceeded to take cognisance of those heresies which had 
lately disturbed the peace of the church. Among the professors of the 
university of Prague two parties had arisen, termed the Realists and the 
Nominalists. The Realists maintained that what are called universal 

443 




444 MARTYRDOM OF JOHN HUSS. 



or general ideas of things were objective ; that is to say, existent 
independently of the human understanding. The Nominalists held 
that those ideas were subjective, or existent only in the mind of man. 
The latter party was the especial favourite of the priesthood. 

Among the Realists was John Huss, who, as early as the year 1401, 
maintained that the pope was no greater than any other bishop ; that 
useless holidays ought to be abolished ; that the doctrine of purgatory 
had no foundation in Scripture ; that confirmation and extreme unc- 
tion were not sacraments; that auricular confession was a vain thing; 
that altars, priestly vestments, images, and consecrated vessels were 
useless ; and that prayer needed not to be offered up in churches, for 
the whole earth was the Lord's temple. He also contended that the 
sacrament of the Lord's supper ought to be received in both kinds by 
the laity, and that the bread and Avine in the eucharist were not tran- 
substantiated into the body and blood of Christ, but that the real body 
and blood were received after a spiritual and mysterious fashion. In 
the dissemination of these doctrines, John IIuss was aided by Jerome 
Faulfisch, liis pupil, commonly called Jerome of Prague. 

In spite of opposition, these bold men continued to preach at Prague 
and elsewhere, until they were summoned to appear before the council 
of Constance, the emperor at the same time promising them a safe- 
conduct. 

Huss appeared before the council with a firm but respectful bearing. 
That body decided upon his arrest, and ordered him to be thrown into 
a narrow and filthy dungeon, the air of which soon brought on a 
raging fever. In spite of repeated petitions, he could not obtain a 
hearing until the 7th of June, 1415, and even then he was so inter- 
rupted that he resolved to be silent. A mock inquiry as to the truth 
of many absurd charges was then gone through with. On the 6th of 
July, Huss was condemned to the flames, the emperor Sigismund 
pronouncing the sentence. 

Against this condemnation the friends of Huss loudly protested. 
The emperor had promised him a safe-conduct, but now said that he 
was not bound to keep faith with a heretic. On the morning of the 
6th of July, Huss was taken to the cathedral, and, with a disgusting 
ceremony, degraded from the priesthood. He was then delivered to 
the secular authorities, who placed on his head a paper cap, half an 
ell in height, ornamented in front with a representation of three devils, 
and the inscription, " This is an arch heretic." On arriving at the 
place of execution, Huss fell on his knees, and, with his eyes towards 
heaven, recited the thirtieth and fiftieth Psalms. His manner inte- 
rested the spectators, and they inquired of a priest who stood near, 



MARTYRDOM OF JOHN HUSS. 445 



why he was not allowed a confessor. The priest answered in a loud 
voice, " Listen not to the heretic ; there is no need to send him a 
confessor." The executioner then bound Huss to the stake, while the 
attendants piled fagots around him. As the executioner was about 
to apply the torch to the pile, the duke of Bavaria rode up and offered 
the captive his life if he would recant his errors. In reply, Huss 
called God to witness that he had never preached or written any thing 
but what in his belief tended to lead men to the kingdom of God ; 
and said that he was ready to seal what he had taught with his blood. 
The executioner then set fire to the pile, which instantly enveloped 
Huss in flames. His last words were, " Christ, thou Son of God, 
have mercy upon me." As the fire declined, the executioner raked 
the heart out of the embers, and, fixing it on a stake, held it in the 
flame until it was consumed. That nothing might remain to be used 
as relics for disciples, the duke of Bavaria ordered his cloak, gii'dle, 
and even the ashes of the pile and the soil on which it stood to be 
scraped together and thrown into the Rhine. The putrid carcass of 
a mule was buried on the spot, and the vulgar taught to believe that 
the soul of the arch heretic had parted from the body in a cloud of 
sulphur, leaving an unsavory odour behind it. The burning of Huss 
was followed by that of his disciple, Jerome of Prague, who died with 
a courage worthy of his master. 

When the ashes of John Huss were thrown into the Rhine, the 
rulers of the church believed that his name had perished with his body ; 
but the people thought far otherwise. In Bohemia, the spirit of his 
teaching spread far and wide. The states of that country having 
protested in strong terms against the monstrous conduct of the coun- 
cil, passed a law authorizing the preaching of Huss's doctrines on the 
estates of landed proprietors, with the permission of the latter. Thus 
encouraged, the Hussites, or " brethren of the chalice," rapidly in- 
creased in number. 

At the court of Wenceslaus, there lived a warrior named John Ziska, 
who had fought with distinction in Poland, and was the chief favour- 
ite of the king. Ziska hated the priesthood, it is said, because one 
of their order had seduced his sister and then abandoned her. Since 
the execution of Huss, the whole demeanour of this man had changed ; 
he became silent and gloomy. At length Wenceslaus inquired the 
cause. " They have burnt Huss," he replied, "and we have not yet 
avenged him." 

" I cannot help it," said the king, " you must try yourselves what 
you can do." 

These words Ziska understood in sober earnest, and immediately 



446 



THE HUSSITE WAR. 




Wenceslaus was alarmed at the move- 



and ordered the citizens to bring their arms to the castle of 



called the Hussites to arms. 

ment 

Wisherad. The order was literally obeyed ; the citizens, armed to the 

teeth and headed by Ziska, appeared before the castle. 

The whole city was thrown into confusion. The Hussites marched 
in procession through the streets. As they passed the town-hall, a 
stone was thrown at them ; enraged at this, they burst into the coun- 
cil-house and threw thirteen German councillors out of the window. 
Ziska gave orders for storming the house of a priest and hanging him 
up at his own door. In the midst of these transactions, the king was 
seized with apoplexy, and died 10th August, 1418. His death re- 
moved the only restraint upon the fury of the people, and every kind 
of outrage evidenced their frenzied feeling. 

In the mean time, Ziska led the more determined portion of the 
Hussites into the country, and called on all who could wield a staff or 
throw a stone to unite and arm themselves against the enemies of God. 
The call was enthusiastically answered, and Ziska was chosen the 
leader of the forces. He assumed the title of " John Ziska, of the 



THE HUSSITE WAR. 447 



chalice, commander, in the hope of God, of the Taborites." The 
Hussites had named the hill on which they had assembled Mount 
Tabor. At the head of an irregular but numerous and furious army, 
Ziska marched through the country, plundering and burning churches 
and monasteries, and committing many acts of cruelty. An army 
sent to destroy the insurgents, by the widow of Wenceslaus, was en- 
tirely defeated. 

In the month of June, 1420, the emperor Sigismund entered Prague, 
threw twenty-four Hussites into the river, and, being reinforced until 
his army reached one hundred thousand, attacked a high hill on which 
Ziska had intrenched himself. Here the passage of the army was for a 
long time disputed by three heroic Bohemian maidens, who refused to 
give way until borne down by numbers. After a long and fierce engage- 
ment, the Germans were forced to retire. After this great victory, 
crowds hurried to the standard of the Taborites. In the year 1421, 
Ziska marched through the country, burning all the convents, and 
putting to death hundreds of fanatics, who were known by the title 
of Adamites. 

In the course of 1421, Ziska was reduced to total blindness by an 
accident which befell him as he was besieging the town of Roby. Yet 
he still commanded his army with the same courage and effect as 
before, travelling in a carriage, which was always near the great 
standard. The progress of his army through the country was like 
that of the destroying angel. Their enemies were slain without dis- 
crimination, and blazing towns were their joy by day and their light 
by night. Terms of conciliation were rejected by the enthusiastic 
rabble and their iron-hearted leader. Prague at length fell into their 
hands. 

In January, 1422, the emperor put a powerful army in motion 
against the insurfrents. Ziska marched out to meet this force. The 
Hussite army was surrounded by a skilful manoeuvre of the emperor; 
but they cut their way through the enemy, and finally overthrew them 
with great slaughter. The emperor now strove to gain over Ziska by 
presents ; but he was a man who could neither be driven nor bought. 
Ziska died of the plague soon afterward, (a. d. 1424.) On his death- 
bed, the veteran commanded that his body should be flayed after his 
decease, and a drum covered with the skin, that his followers might 
still hear, as it were, the voice of Ziska, whenever they went forth to 
battle. 

The majority of the Hussites now chose Procopius Holy for their 
leader, while the minority, calling themselves " Ziska's orphans," 
vowed never again to submit to the rule of mortal man, or sleep under 



448 



THE HUSSITE WAR. 



a roof. In the year 1431 the imperial army was totally defeated by 
the Hussites, all their artillery and baggage falling into the hands of 
the victors. The emperor now extended the hand of fellowship to the 
insurgents, and granted their chief demands. But the Taborites and 
<' orphans" were discontented, and kept aloof. They were finally over- 
thrown, in a tremendous battle near Prague, on the 20th of May, 
1434. Bohemia was then pacified. The death of John Huss was 
terribly avenged by his followers, and in a manner perfectly in ac- 
cordance with the spirit of that age. 




I^^i 1-^44^^^^^ "i 





Vasco de Gama intiol xcpj to tb' Zaix.orin of Calicut. 



PORTUGAL. 

ORTUGAL -was anciently called Lusitania. 
It became a Roman province under Au- 
gustus, and remained under the Roman 
dominion until the beginning of the fifth 
century, when the Alans, the Suabians, 
and the Visigoths successively made them- 
selves masters of the country. In the 
eighth century, it was overrun by the 
Moors and Saracens, but was gradually 
wrested from them by the Christians. 
Henry, duke of Burgundy, having distinguished himself against the 
Moors, was created king of Portugal in 1110. In 1383, the legitimate 
male line of this family became extinct, and John I., a natural son of 
the last king, was chosen to fill the throne. In his reign, the Portu- 
guese made settlements in Africa, and discovered the Azores. 

In the reign of Emanuel I., Vasco de Gama discovered the Cape of 
Good Hope, and a passage to the East Indies by sea. He was intro- 
duced to the zamorin of Calicut, with whom he made a commercial 
treaty. In 1500, Brazil was discovered by Don Pedro Alvarez, and 
the Portuguese made most valuable discoveries in the East Indies, 

29 449 




450 



PORTUGAL. 




Vasco de Gama. 



■where they erected forts, made settlements, subdued the inhabitants, 
and, at the same time, carried on a sanguinary war in Africa. They 
were at that period the most enterprising commercial people in the 
world. Under the guidance of Alfonso de Albuquerque, a man of 
great capacity and energy, their settlements in India were rendered 
permanent and profitable. He extended the influence of the Portu- 
guese arms to Farther India, ravaged the coasts of the Red Sea, and 
conquered the city of Molacca and the island of Ormuz in the Persian 
Gulf. The Portuguese dominion in the Indies increased in splendour 
and extent, until the hostility of the great Shah Abbas of Persia and 
the English reduced it to nothing. 

In 1581, Portugal was subdued by the Spaniards, and from that 
time the power and maritime importance of the Portuguese declined. 
Many of their colonies were wrested from them by the Dutch and 
English. But in 1G40 they shook off the Spanish yoke, elected John 
of Braganza king, and drove the Dutch out of Brazil. From the house 
of Braganza all the succeeding monarchs of Portugal have been de- 
rived. In 1668, Spain acknowledged Portugal to be an independent 
kingdom. For many subsequent years, Portugal exercised very little 
influence among the nations of Europe. Intimate relations were 



PORTUGAL. 



451 




Albuquerque. 



maintained with Great Britain, and the influence of that power was 
discovered in most of the prominent movements of the government. 
The enterprising spirit of the people seemed to have fallen asleep. 
But the accession to power of a vigorous reformer, the marquis of 




ahip of the timo cf Albuquerque. 



452 



PORTUGAL. 




Albuquerque ravaging the coasts of the Red Sea. 



Pombal, called the old spirit to action, and during his administration, 
■which lasted from 1750 to 1777, many improvements were introduced, 
and aiTairs administered for the good of the people. 

Duriniz the wars which succeeded the French revolution of 1798, 
when the republicans struggled Avith the supporters of hereditary mo- 
narchy, Portugal, through her connection with England, became in- 
volved in a war with France. The Portuguese troops distinguished 
themselves by their valour during the peninsular campaigns. But 
they possessed th(* merest shadow of independence. When the power 
of Bonaparte was supreme, they were compelled to make peace on 
humiliating conditions. On the 10th of November, 1807, Junot, with 
a powerful French army, entered Lisbon, and Portugal was treated 
as a conquered country. An English force landed, however, and 
bands of native troops assembled to maintain the struggle for freedom. 
After the decisive battle of Vimiera, fought August 21st, 1808, oc- 



PORTUGAL. 



453 




Junot. 



curved the convention of Cintra and the evacuation of the country by 
the French forces. 

During 1808, 1809, and 1810, Portugal was the chief scene ot the 
military contest between Great Britain and France, and the Portu- 
guese subsequently took an active part in the war for Spanish inde- 
pendence. When John VI. succeeded to the throne of Portugal, he 
was at the head of the government of Brazil, and refused to return to 



454 



PORTUGAL. 



Europe. From that time, the separation of Portugal and Brazil 
became a matter looked upon as inevitable. The Portuguese, despairing 
of ever seeing the seat of government at Lisbon, became discontented 
and rebellious. In 1820, the Spanish revolution occurred, and the 
flame of liberty was soon communicated to Portugal. The liberal 
party triumphed rapidly, and without bloodshed. A new cortes 
assembled, and a liberal constitution was adopted. Soon after, the 
king's son, Don Pedro, headed the popular party in Brazil, and 
declared the independence of that country. King John returned to 
Portugal, where he Avas not allowed to land until he had sworn to 
support the new constitution, and legalize the acts of the cortes. 
The independence of Brazil was soon after acknowledged. The sub- 
sequent history of Portugal is made up of the intrigues and quarrels 
of factions. The weakness of the government was lamentably appa- 
rent during the struggle between Don Pedro and Don Miguel for the 
throne, and the interference of the English alone decided the question 
of ascendency. Through their influence, the Portuguese were induced 
to accept Donna Maria da Gloria for their queen, with Don Pedro as 
regent. Though Portugal has lost Brazil, she still retains the Azores, 
Madeira, Cape de Verde, and Guinea Islands, the settlements of An- 
gola and Mozambique, in Africa, and several others in Asia. 












ahip of Lho fifteenth centuiy. 




SPAIN. 




HE period between the conquest of Spain 
by the Moors and their expulsion by Ferdi- 
_ nand, is the most romantic in the annals of 
.^^ that country. Those were the golden days 
2 of chivalry ; and the Mussulman and the 
Christian vied in deeds of valour and gene- 
rosity. In 717, the Goths recovered from 
their disastrous overthrow, and, under Pe- 
layo, made head against the Moors. Pelayo 
founded the kingdom of Leon and Oviedo, which rapidly increased in 
strength, extent, and importance. The famous Moorish general 
Almanzor at length appeared and gained many victories over the 
Christians, reducing Barcelona and Leon to ashes, and ravaging the 
neighbouring country. But Almanzor was defeated, and after his 
death the progress of the Christians was rapid. 

The most famous warrior of the chivalrous period of Spanish history 
was Don Eodrigo Diaz, surnamed the Cid Campeador. He was born 
at Burgos, about the middle of the eleventh century. Having early 
lost his father, he was placed under the charge of Sancho, king of 
Castile, to be educated for a military life ; and in a few years became, 
by a succession of wonderful exploits, the head of Sancho's forces. 

455 



456 



SPAIN. 




The Cid rarting -witli Donna il 



After tlie rlenth of vSancho, Rodrigo entered the service of the king's 
broth or, Alfonso of Leon, and was recognised as the Spanish cham- 
pion in all encounters with the Moors. In the ballads of the time, 
the heroic Cid, his lady, Donna Ximena, and oven his horse are im- 
niorlalized. 

1 lie Moorish governments being weakened by changes of dynasties, 
as well as by internal convulsions, the Christian kings wrested from 
them one portion of the country after another, till, after the great vic- 
tory which the united Christian princes gained over the Moors in 
1222 at Tolosa, there remained to them only the kingdom of Gra- 
nada. Even this was obliged to acknowledge the Castilian supremacy 
in 124G, and was finally conquered by the forces of Ferdinand and 
Isabella, the first sovereigns of united Spain. 

The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella is remarkable for its splendour, 



SPAIN. 



457 




Gcnsalvo of Cr-rdova. 

and for the ma.nj glorious deeds performed during its existence. Du- 
ring the war against Granada and some of the Italian states, Fernandez 
Gonsalvo of Cordova was distinguished for his valour, virtues, and 
success. By land and sea he was equally victorious. Falling under 
the displeasure of the court, Gonsalvo retired from the public service, 
and died in obscurity, (1515.) Florian has made him the hero of his 
romance. 




Columbus. 



458 



SPAIN. 




Columbus discovering land. 



It was under the generous patronage of Isabella, that Columbus, a 
Genoese navigator, "was enabled to proceed upon that voyage which 
gave a new world to Europe. Columbus sailed from Palos, on Friday, 
Aug, 3, 1492, with three small vessels. After a long and dangerous 
voyage, he discovered, on the 12th of October, Guanahana, or St. 
Salvador, one of the Bahama islands, landed, and took possession of 
it in the name of the sovereigns of Spain. Other islands were dis- 
covered, and then the triumphant navigator returned to Spain. 

The discoveries of Columbus awakened the spirit of maritime enter- 
prise in Spain and the other commercial states of Europe. The glory 
of being the first European navigator to visit the continent of America 
belongs to Sebastian Cabot, who sailed under the patronage of the 
English government, but was afterward in the service of Spain. Ad- 
venturers flocked to the new world. Hernando Cortez and a few 
hundred followers conquered the empire of Mexico, and obtained the 
possession of valuable gold and silver mines. Francisco Pizarro sub- 
dued Peru in South America. From these countries vast wealth was 
taken to Spain, and served to stimulate the spirit of enterprise. But 
though the extensive conquests made by the Spaniards in the new world 
served to make their country for the time above every other in Europe, 



SPAIN. 



459 




Laading of Columbus at Guanahaoa. 



the activity of the nation was diverted from the strengthening of the 
mother country, and avarice and fanaticism established a colonial sys- 
tem which could not be lasting. 

The splendid reign of Ferdinand and Isabella was terminated by 
the death of the latter in 1506. Philip, archduke of Austria, then 
came to Castile to take possession of that kingdom, as the heir of his 
mother-in-law. But he died, and Charles V. became heir to the crown 
of Spain. The king of France was appointed governor to the young 
prince, and Cardinal Xiraenes, so famous for wisdom and virtue, was 
appointed sole regent of the kingdom. The cardinal maintained order 
in Spain in spite of the turbulence of the nobles, and when in 1517 
he resigned his power to the young king, he did so with the conscious- 
ness of unsullied integrity. 

Charles V. ascended a throne which was then regarded as the most 
important in Europe. But a greater honour awaited him. The Ger- 
man diet assembled, and, after some discussion, elected him to fill the 
imperial throne, which had so long been filled by the house of Austria. 
Francis I. of France had been a candidate for the imperial crown, but 
the vast power of the king of Spain prevailed ; and from that time 



460 



SPAIN. 




Francis became his untiring rival and enemy. Charles V. now ruled 
dominions more extensive and powerful than those of any sovereign 
since the Roman emperors. Not long after his coronation, an insur- 




SPAIN. 



461 




Charles V. 



rection broke out in Spain — a holy league was formed, the object of 
liberating the common people from feudal oppression boldly avowed, 
and the authority of Charles and the nobles repudiated. But the 
nobles, alarmed for their own safety, hurried to the standard of the 
emperor, and, after several battles and sieges, he triumphed. The 
government of Spain was then converted into a despotism. Francis 
I., taking advantage of this revolt, began hostilities, and conquered 
Navarre. But the Spaniards united, defeated Francis's army, and 
captured its general, Andrew de Foix. Hostilities soon spread to 
other quarters. Chai-les was defeated at Mezieres by the famous 
Chevalier Bayard, the "knight without fear and without reproach." 
Henry VIII. of England, however, formed an alliance with the young 
emperor, and his arms were triumphant in various quarters. 

Francis, with extraordinary energy and skill, entii-ely protected his 
dominions from invasion ; but Charles of Bourbon, his best general, 
went over to the enemy. Francis resolved to conquer Milan, and laid 
siege to Pavia. Upon the defence of this city hung the triumph of 
the emperor's interest. His friends were beginning to desert him, 
when Charles of Bourbon, with a large array, advanced to the relief 
of the city. A tremendous battle was fought on the 23d of February, 
1525, under the walls of Pavia, and the king of France was defeated 
and captured. Thus the emperor was triumphant, and the French 
were driven out of Italy. 

Francis remained captive a year, and then signed a treaty on 
humiliating terms. When he returned to his kingdom he resolved not 



462 



SPAIN. 




Francis I. tnten prisooer at Favia. 



to fulfil those terms, and the pope sanctioned his resolution. Hosti- 
lities were recommenced. Bourbon took and almost destroyed Rome, 
but fell in the exploit. This drew on Charles V. the enmity of the 
other sovereigns of Europe and of many of his own subjects. Francis 
was successful in the field, but agreed to negotiate, and a treaty was 
concluded. At this time, Henry VIII. was a warm friend of the 
French monarch. The arms of the emperor were now directed against 
the Turkish power in Africa, where the great corsair Barbarossa was 
supreme, and where many Christians were suffering the horrors of 
captivity. Charles led a powerful armament against Tunis, took the 
strong sea-port Goletta by storm, all Barbarossa's fleet, defeated the 
tyrant in a pitched battle, and, entering Tunis in triumph, secured the 
freedom of twenty thousand Christians. The emperor then returned 
to Europe covered with glory. 

At home, Francis I. had again commenced hostilities, and when 
Charles V. invaded France he was defeated and driven beyond the 
Alps by the French general Montmorenci. All the subsequent 
attempts of the emperor to subdue the French were defeated by the 
energy of that people and the activity and skill of their generals. 
Outside of France and upon the sea, however, he was victorious and 
most powerful. During the reign of Charles V., many maritime 
enterprises were undertaken by the Spaniards. In 1519, Ferdinand 
Magellan, a Portuguese navigator of great skill and energy, sailed, 



SPAIN. 



463 




under the patronage of the emperor, to attempt to discover a western 
passage to the Indies. He discovered and passed through those straits 
at the southern extremity of America which still bear his name, and 
advanced through the South Sea to the Ladrone Islands. There he 
was slain, in 1520, either by the natives or his crew. Only one of his 
vessels, with eighteen men, reached Spain again. 

After having reigned over Spain for thirty-nine years, Charles V., 
either disgusted with the pomp of power, or sick of numerous disap- 
pointments, resigned the empire to his brother Ferdinand, and his 
hereditary dominions to his son Philip II. He then sought happiness 
in the monastery of San Just, in Estremadura, where he amused 
himself with making watches and curious automatons. Two years 
after, in 1558, he closed his active and very remarkable life. In 
intellectual energy and penetration, he was superior to any sovereign 



464 



SPAIN. 




Cha-L-]8s V. in retirement with his cui-ious puppets. 



of his time ; but in the qualities of tlie heart which ennoble a man, he 
was inferior to Francis of France. 

Philip II. succeeded to the throne of a vast and powerful empire. 
Having married Mar}^, queen of England, the forces of that country 
w^ere at his command, while his own were regarded as invincible. 
Without the valour and activity of his father, Philip was crafty, cruel, 
callous, superstitious, and faithless, and his people soon became con- 
vinced that he was a tyrant, with precisely those qualities which make 
tyrants most dreaded. Through the influence of the pope, Spain 
became involved in a war with France and Solyman, emperor of the 
Turks. In Italy, the defeats sustained by Henry of France and his 
general, the duke of Guise, induced the pope to abandon the French. 
Montmorenci Avas defeated before St. Quentin by Philibert of Savoy, 
and the conquest of France seemed about to be made by the Spaniards. 
But the valour and activity of the duke of Guise saved his country. 
He restored the spirits of the French, checked the Spaniards, and 
took Calais from the English. In the mean time, the cruel tyranny of 
Philip caused revolts in various parts of the empire. In Holland, when 
the able but cruel and remorseless duke of Alva had been appointed 
governor, a revolt occurred, at the head of which was the bold and wise 
William of Orange. The Spanish authority was never afterward 
wholly recognised by the people of Holland, though their independence 
was not acknowledged until after an eighty years' struggle. Portugal 



SPAIN. 



465 




fell under the sway of Philip. Elizabeth of England assisted the 
Hollanders in their revolt, and Philip resolved upon an invasion of 
that country. For this purpose, the so-called " invincible armada" was 
constructed and equipped. But storms and the valour of the English 
proved its speedy destruction. Very few of the ships and men returned 
to Spain. Philip II. died in 1598. 

Spain at first entered with zeal into the war against the French 
republic of 1798 ; but the influence of the fortunate favourite Godoy, 
surnamed "the Prince of Peace," caused a treaty to be concluded 
with the French on dishonourable terms. The alliance which was then 
entered into with France gave rise to a war with Great Britain. At 
sea, Spain was defeated, and at the treaty of Amiens, in 1802, lost 
the island of Trinidad. Napoleon took advantage of the quarrels in 
the royal family of Spain to interfere in their affairs and advance his 
own interests. Having caused the royal family to be removed to 
Bayonne, he placed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, upon the throne 
of Spain, and took care to have a large French army to support the 
appointment. 

30 



466 



SPAIN. 




William I. of Orange. 



• The Spaniards would not quietly submit to a foreign yoke ; and, 
secure of British aid, they began what was called "the war of inde- 
pendence." Powerful French armies, headed by skilful and experi- 
enced generals, easily triumphed over the undisciplined armies and 
weak commanders sent to the field by the various juntas of Spain. 
The struggle would have been short if the duke of Wellington and his 
British troops had not upheld the Spanish cause, infused spirit into 
the people, and made up for the lack of skill and energy in the com- 
manders. Castanos, Rowana, and Cuesta were distinguished among 
the Spanish generals for vigour, but were generally unsuccessful, and 
when successful very cruel towards the vanquished. On the 4th of 
December, 1808, Napoleon, after having achieved several triumphs, 



SPAIN. 



467 




Josepli Bonaparte. 



entered Madrid, and the French were then masters of the greater part 
of Spain. After the emperor left Spain, Wellington entered it, and 
soon made the French marshals feel the force of his arm. At Tala- 
vera, the British defeated the French, but "were compelled to retreat, 
in consequence of a want of support, to the frontiers of Portugal. 
Once more the French were successful, and held command of the 
greater part of Spain. Wellington next took the field against Massena, 
and, after much skilful manoeuvring, defeated him at Busaco, repulsed 
him at Torres Vedras, and compelled him to evacuate Portugal. In 
other quarters, the French, under Suchet, Avere victorious. King 
Joseph and Marmont were defeated at Salamanca on the 22d of July, 
1812, and soon after, Wellington entered Madrid. Napoleon's dis- 
asters in Russia decided the fate of the peninsula. Wellington gained 
the splendid victory of Vittoria, took Pampeluna, and completely 
drove the French out of Spain. Ferdinand VII. then entered his 
hereditary dominions, and commenced his reign by the persecution of 
his enemies. Insurrections followed, and, to add to the troubles of 
the government, many of the valuable American colonies, with Mexico 
at their head, declared themselves independent. 



468 



SPAIN. 



The death of Ferdinand, in 1833, was followed by the long and 
bloody struggle between the liberals, who supported Isabella II., and 
the Carlists, who supported Don Carlos and despotism. The British, 
from motives of humanity, interfered on behalf of the queen, but their 
influence did not immediately decide the question. In 1840, Espartero, 
the queen's general, was triumphant, capturing Morella, the last 
stronghold of the Carlists, and completely crushing them in the field. 
The young queen, Isabella II., was then proclaimed, and Espartero 
appointed regent by the cortes. The regent eifectcd many reforms 
among the people, but some of his measures at length gave offence, 
and a powerful party was ready to take advantage of his missteps. 
A revolution occurred, Espartero was driven out of Spain, and General 
Concha appointed regent. Since then, Spain has been tolerably tran- 
quil ; but factions still dispute the measures of the government, and 
occasionally threaten violence. Spain has long since ceased to have 
a potential voice in the affairs of Europe, and is now but a shadow of 
her former self. 




Modern Spanish. c?sturae. 




PISA, GENOA, FLORENCE, AND VENICE. 

UST before the crusades, and during their pro- 
gress, several cities upon the Mediterranean 
arose to maritime power and importance, and 
became the centres of flourishing and inde- 
pendent republics. The principal of these 
were Pisa, Genoa, Florence, and Venice. Much 
of their history is interwoven, on account of 
their proximity to each other, their being com- 
mercial rivals, and their numerous struggles 
for supremacy. 

Pisa stands in a fertile plain, about eight 
miles from the entrance of the Arno into the sea. The history of the 
city can be traced to the early days of the Roman empire, but it did 
not become important until the commencement of what was called the 
Middle Ages. 

From the Saracens the Pisans conquered Sardinia, Corsica, and the 
Baleares, and was styled the queen of the seas. Its territory on the 
Tyrrhene shore comprehended the Maremma from Lerici to Piombino, 
which was at that time cultivated and very fruitful. By sea the rival 
of Venice and Genoa, she founded colonies in the Levant, and sent 
forty vessels to aid the king of Jerusalem. Faithful as a zealous 

469 




470 PISA. 

Ghibeline to the emperor, involved in a bloody struggle ■with the Guelfic 
Florence, with Lucca and Sienna, -which adhered to the pope, an 
object of jealousy to all her neighbours, overcome by Genoa in a 
bloody naval battle, and torn by the internal dissensions of powerful 
families, she finally sank under the jealousy and hatred of Florence. 
Ugolino, however, reigned but a short time over the city, which had 
been stripped of her fortresses. The courage with which 11,000 
Pisans preferred to suffer sixteen years of severe imprisonment, rather 
than surrender a fortified place to the enemy, sustained for a time the 
spirit of the republic, which, with its own arms, defeated the army of 
the Guelfs of all Italy. But, being exhausted, it finally put itself 
under the protection of Milan, and was soon after sold to Duke Ga- 
leazzo Visconti, from whose successors Florence obtained it by pur- 
chase, in 1406. The city was compelled to surrender by famine ; and 
those disposed to resist were kept in obedience by force. The larger 
part of the citizens emigrated. But after eighty-eight years of oppres- 
sion, M'hen Charles VIII. of France made an expedition into Italy, the 
ancient pride of Pisa was aroused, and, for fifteen years, she fought 
gloriously for her liberty. Simon Orlandi called his fellow citizens 
to arms, and the people, under the protection of Charles VIIL, who 
took possession of Pisa by a treaty with Florence, adopted a consti- 
tution of their own. Then began an obstinate war between Florence 
and Pisa. The inhabitants of the latter city, with the assistance of 
the French garrison, reconquered the ancient territory, and defeated 
the Florentine mercenaries. Their courage foiled every effort of their 
former sovereigns. When the French garrison departed, they took 
the oath of allegiance to the French king as their protector. Pisa 
now became a place of importance. Princes and republics negotiated, 
some for, some against the continuance of the revived republic. Aban- 
doned at last by all, the Pisans swore to perish rather than submit to 
their hereditary enemy. Florence had already made itself master of 
the Pisan territory, and, on the last of July, 1499, the siege of the 
city was commenced with such ardour, that, in a fortnight, the Floren- 
tines hoped to have it in their power. But the females of Pisa worked 
day and night to repair the walls ; and the enemy having taken a 
castle by storm, they exhorted their disheartened citizens to die rather 
than become the slaves of the Florentines. By this spirit the city was 
saved, and the enemy, after great loss, raised the siege, September 4. 
The Pisans now changed their city into a formidable fortress. Even 
an army sent by Louis XII., king of France, (who wished to subjugate 
Pisa for the Florentines,) besieged it in vain. In 1504, the Floren- 
tines resumed the siege of Pisa. They attempted to dam up the Arno 



GENOA. 471 

above the city, but had to relinquish the plan after great expense. 
A third siege, in 1505, was equally unavailing. The city was finally 
(June 8, 1509) reduced by famine, and submitted to the Florentines, 
with an amnesty for the past. Thus Pisa, having frustrated four 
attacks, and asserted its freedom for fifteen years, fell into the power 
of the Florentines, and ceased for ever to be independent. On its ruins 
was founded the power of Tuscany. 

Genoa is pleasantly and advantageously situated upon the gulf of 
Genoa, a beautiful little portion of the Mediterranean. In splendour, 
the city once rivalled the greatest cities of Europe. Its history begins 
with that of its first inhabitants, the Ligurians, who were conquered 
by the Romans during the interval between the first and second Punic 
wars. The Lombards and Franks in turn succeeded the Romans. 

After the downfall of the empire of Charlemagne, Genoa erected 
itself into a republic, and, till the eleventh century, shared the fortunes 
of the cities of Lombardy. The situation of the city was favourable 
to commerce, and it pm-sued the trade of the Levant even earlier than 
Venice. The acquisitions of the Genoese on the continent gave rise, 
as early as the beginning of the twelfth century, to violent contentions 
with the enterprising and industrious merchants and tradesmen of 
Pisa, who became their near neighbours after Genoa had made itself 
master of the gulf of Spezzia. In 1174, Genoa possessed Montferrat, 
Monaco, Nizza, Marseilles, almost the whole coast of Provence, and 
the island of Corsica. The quarrel with the Pisans continued over 
two hundred years, and peace M'as not concluded until Genoa had 
destroyed the harbour of Pisa and conquered the island of Elba. Not 
less violent was the contest with Venice, which was first terminated in 
1282 by the peace of Turin. As it was the dominion over the west- 
ern part of the Mediterranean which formed the subject of dispute 
with Pisa, so, in the war with Venice, it was contended which should 
possess the eastern portion of that sea. The Genoese made commer- 
cial treaties with the different nations of the Levant ; their superiority 
in trade was at its highest point at the time of the revival of the Grseco- 
Byzantine empire, about the middle of the thirteenth century. 

After the conquest of Constantinople by Mohammed II. in 1453, the 
Genoese soon suffered for the aid they had imprudently afi'orded the 
Turks. Mohammed took from them their settlements on the Black Sea 
in 1475 ; they still, it is true, carried on, for a long time, a lucrative 
trade with the inhabitants of this region, but at last all access to this 
branch of trade was denied them by the Turks. Even the commercial 
intercourse which the Tartars of the Crimea had for a considerable 
time maintained with Genoa in their o^\ti ships, was cut off by Turkish 



472 



GENOA. 




jealousy. While the power and commercial rank of Genoa were 
attaining their height by means of their foreign trade and acquisitions 
of territory, the city was internally convulsed by civil discord and 
party spirit ; the hostility of the democrats and aristocrats, and the 
different parties among the latter, occasioned continual disorder. In 
1339, a chief magistrate, the doge, was elected for life by the people, 
but he had not sufficient influence to reconcile the contending parties. 
A council was appointed to aid him ; yet, after all attempts to restore 
order to the state, there was no internal tranquillity ; indeed, the city 
sometimes submitted to a foreign yoke, in order to get rid of a disas- 
trous anarchy which the conflict of parties produced. In the midst 
of this confusion, St. George's bank {compera di 8. Cf-eorgio) was 
founded ; it owed its origin to the loans furnished by the wealthy 
citizens to the state, and was conscientiously supported by the alter- 
nately dominant parties. 



GENOA. 473 

In 1528, Andrew Doria, the famous admiral, restored order and 
tranquillity in the state. The form of government he established was 
a strict aristocracy. The doge was elected to be the head of the state ; 
he was required to be fifty years of age, and to reside in the palace 
of the republic, {palazzo delta signoria,) where also the senate held 
their meetings. The doge had the right of proposing all laws in the 
senate ; without his acquiescence, the senate could pass no decree ; 
and the orders of the government were issued in his name. He con- 
tinued in office no longer than two years, after which he became a 
senator and procurator ; and, at the expiration of five years, was 
again eligible to the office of chief magistrate. The doge was assisted 
in the administration of the government by twelve governors and eight 
procurators, (not counting such as had previously held the office of 
doge,) who likewise retained their office two years ; they constituted 
the privy council, who, with the doge, had charge of all state aflfairs. 
The procurators had charge of the public treasury and state revenue. 
The sovereignty was possessed, in the first instance, by the great 
council, composed of three hundred members, among whom were all 
the Genoese nobles who had reached the age of twenty-two years. 
Secondly, by the smaller council, consisting of one hundred members. 
Both had a right to deliberate with the governors and procurators 
upon laws, customs, levies, and taxes ; in which cases the majority 
of votes decided. It belonged to the smaller council to negotiate 
respecting war and peace, and foreign alliances ; and the consent of 
four-fifths, at least, of the members, was required for the passage of 
a law. The nobility were divided into two classes, the old and new. 
To the old belonged, besides the families of Grimaldi, Fieschi, Doria, 
Spinola, twenty-four others, who stood nearest them in age, wealth, 
and consequence. The new nobility comprised four hundred and 
thirty-seven families. The doge might be taken from the old or new 
nobles indiscriminately. 

This form of government was seriously menaced by the conspiracy 
of Fiesco, count of Lavagna. He became master of a large patri- 
mony at the age of eighteen, and, being surrounded with dependants 
and flatterers, and really possessing considerable talents and eloquence, 
he was readily induced to aim at that power and distinction in the 
state which was then possessed by the family of Doria, headed by the 
famous Andrew Doria. The latter, whose patriotism and great quali- 
ties had justly raised him to the distinction of first citizen, being too 
intent upon the elevation of his nephew, Giannetino, a youth of a 
brutal and insolent character, a great degree of discontent was engen- 
dered among the nobles of Genoa, who, forming a party against Do- 



474 



GENOA. 




ria, willingly accepted a leader of the wealth and talents of Fiesco. 
The court of France, anxious to detach Genoa from the interest of the 
emperor, was easily induced to favour this enterprise, to which the 
concurrence of Pope Paul III., who furnished some galleys, was also 
afforded. Although Andrew Doria received some intimation of the 
design in agitation, Fiesco conducted himself with so much circum- 
spection and apparent tranquillity, that he could not be induced to 
believe aught to his prejudice. After several meetings, the plan of 
the conspiracy was fixed, and the destruction of the Doria family 
formed an essential part of it. On the evening of January 1, 1547, 
Fiesco, who had prepared a galley, under pretence of a cruise against 
the corsairs, waited upon Andrew Doria, to request permission to de- 
part from the harbour early in the morning, and took his leave with 
strong demonstrations of respect and affection. The same evening, 
however, he assembled a large body of his partisans at his house, on 
the pretence of an entertainment, to whom he made a warm and 
eloquent address ; and, their concurrence being unanimous, he has- 
tened to the apartment of his wife, and acquainted her with his inten- 



VENICE. 475 

tion. She earnestly, and in vain, entreated him to abandon his des- 
perate undertaking. He took leave of her, saying : " Madam, you 
shall never see me again, or you shall see every thing in Genoa 
beneath you." While the city was buried in sleep, he sallied forth, 
preceded by five hundred armed men, and, despatching parties to 
different quarters, himself proceeded to secure the dock, in which the 
galleys lay. He went on board one of these, from which he was pro- 
ceeding across a plank to the captain galley, when the board gave way, 
and, falling into the water, encumbered with his armour, he sank to 
rise no more. Thus terminated the life of this young and able votary 
of ambition, at the early age of twenty-two. 'His confederates failed 
in their attempt on Andrew Doria, but Giannetino fell beneath their 
swords. The loss of their leader, however, proved fatal to the con- 
spiracy ; his brother Jerome was deserted, and the whole family paid 
the penalty of the ambition of their head, by ruin and proscription. 

By little and little, Genoa lost all her foreign possessions. Corsica, 
the last of all, revolted in 1730, and was ceded, in 17G8, to France! 
When the neighbouring countries submitted to the French in 1797 
the neutrality which the republic had strictly observed did not save 
their fluctuating government from ruin. Bonaparte gave them a new 
constitution, formed upon the principles of the French representative 
system. Two years afterward, a portion of the Genoese territory 
fell into the hands of the Austrians ; but the fate of Genoa was decided 
by the battle of Marengo. A provisional government was established, 
and, in 1802, it received a new constitution as the Ligurian repub- 
lic. The doge was assisted by twenty-nine senators, and a council 
of seventy-two members as representatives of the people, which met 
annually, examined the government accounts, and approved the laws 
proposed to them by the senate. The members of the council were 
elected by three colleges, and consisted of three hundred landed pro- 
prietors, two hundred merchants, and one hundred men of the literary 
professions. The republic also acquired some increase of territory, 
and had, in 1804, a population exceeding six hundred thousand. Its 
naval force is now of trifling importance, and its commerce but a 
shadow of its ancient extent. 

Florence, another powerful city of the Middle Ages, is situated in a 
beautiful and fertile valley, on both sides of the Arno. It became the 
centre of a republic more extensive than any other in the south of 
Europe during the Middle Ages, conquered Pisa after a long and des- 
perate struggle, as we have seen, and in arts and arms was supreme. 
But in naval force, Florence could not successfully cope with Genoa 
and Venice, which states owed their greatness to their commerce, and 



476 VENICE. 

vrere superior in situation. The Florentine republic obtained its pitcb 
of grandeur under the able rule of the Medici. Of this family, Cosmo 
and Lorenzo are the most celebrated. The latter was surnamed the 
Magnificent, for his patronage of the arts and the noble works per- 
formed under his direction. In 1537, the Medici, from being the 
first of the citizens, became the sovereigns of Florence, and her history 
is from that time identified with that of Tuscany. Alexander de Medici 
was the first ruler of all Tuscany, and the government continued in 
the hands of that family until 1737, when the country fell to the house 
of Austria. Florence was for a long period the Athens of Italy, and 
produced many celebrated men. Among others may be specified 
Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Galileo, Machiavclli, ^Michael Angelo 
Buonarotti, and Leonardo da Vinci. Since 1814, it has been under 
the rule of a duke of the house of Austria. Though much decayed, 
the city is considered the second in point of attraction in Italy. 

Venice occupied a high position in the Middle Ages ; and no state 
possesses a more interesting history. "When the Visigoths, the Iluns, 
and the Lombards poured into the Roman empire, and. particularly 
into Upper Italy, which even in the time of ancient Rome was called 
Venetin, many of the poorer inhabitants took refuge on the islands in 
the Adriatic, particularly on the island of Rialto. These people es- 
tablished there a small democratic republic, and attained to a high 
pitch of commercial prosperity. In 699 A. D., the islands elected their 
first dux, or doge, in the person of Paolucci Anafesto. The scat of 
government was afterward in Malamacco, and in 737 in Rialto, where 
in a short time a populous city arose — " throned on a hundred isles." 
This was the modern A'cnice, which soon became powerful and ruled 
the Adriatic. Commercial privileges in Rome and Constantinople 
promoted its prosperity, and the city was not long satisfied with the 
possession of the lagoon islands and the neighbouring coasts, but made 
conquests in Istria and Dalmatia. As early as the wars with the 
Saracens, in the ninth century, the Venetians had become skilled in 
maritime warfare, by their struggles with pirates ; and for this reason 
the cities of Dalmatia put themselves under their protection, about 
the year 997. Venice gained exceedingly by the crusades, and be- 
came not only the richest, but also the most powerful city of Lombardy, 
in which the treasures of all the East were collected. But the aris- 
tocracy already strove to oppress the people, and the doge endeavoured 
to increase his power ; hence repeated insurrections of the people. 
At length, after the assassination of the thirty-eighth doge, Vitali 
Michieli, in 1172, the constitution was so changed that the arbitrary 
power of the doge was limited, and the supreme authority was given 



VENICE. 



477 




to a numerous assembly of Jiohili, and strict laws were made to keep 
them within bounds. Under this limited aristocracy, the laws and 
government were improved. Manners became milder, and the arts 
began to flourish. The commercial power of the republic received its 
greatest extension under the doge Enrico Dandolo. This distinguished 
statesman and general, in the crusade undertaken by the Venetians, 
French, and others, took ConstarUinople in 1202, at the head of a Vene- 
tian fleet, and acquired for the republic the possession of Candia 
and several Ionian islands, and others in the Archipelago. But after 
the restoration of the Byzantine empire in 1261, the East India 
trade passed from Constantinople to Alexandria ; and the Genoese, 
who had greatly assisted in the destruction of the Latin empire, pos- 
sessed themselves of the commerce in the Byzantine empire, which 
had been in the hands of the Venetians. In 1297, the doge Gra- 
denigo introduced hereditary aristocracy, since the ancient great 
college of nobles, who shared the government with the doge, and were 
elected annually, declared themselves a permanent body of hereditary 
aristocrats, (consisting of the noble families, whose names were entered 
in the "golden book.") At the same time, the establishment of the 
fearful council of the Ten must be considered as one of the causes 



478 VENICE. 

which finally brought on the ruin of Venice. In the mean time, the re- 
public extended her possessions more and more widely on the continent, 
particularly after her rival, the republic of Genoa, had been obliged to 
yield, in 1381, after a struggle of a hundred and thirty years for supre- 
macy in Lombardy. Vicenza, Verona, Bassano, Feltre, Belluno, and 
Padua, with their territories, came under the power of Venice in 1402, 
Friuli in 1421, Brescia, Bergamo, and Crema in 1428, and the islands 
of Zante and Cefalonia, in 1483. At last, the wife of James, the last 
king of Cyprus, Cathainne Cornaro, a Venetian lady, ceded that beau- 
tiful country to her native republic in 1486. The senate of Venice, 
at that time, reminds the student of the ancient Roman senate. Other 
states made it their model : they even solicited for Venetian counsellors 
and leaders. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, Venice was 
rich, poAverful, honoured, comprising the most civilized people on earth, 
and devoted to the arts and sciences. But her political wisdom de- 
generated into a petty prudence and cunning. A grand inquisitor was 
necessary for the preservation of the republic. Circumstances also 
happened which no prudence could avert. The Portuguese discovered 
the way by sea to the East Indies in 1498, and Venice entirely lost 
the commerce of the Indies by the way of Alexandria : the Turks had 
become masters of Constantinople, and overpowered all which stood 
in their way ; they conquered, by degrees, all the possessions of Ve- 
nice in the Archipelago and in the Morea, and even Albania and 
Negropont. But the republic saved herself, by skilful negotiations, 
from the danger with which the league of Cambray threatened 
her in 1508. This war, however, had much impaired her power. 
The Turks tore C^^prus from Venice in 1571, and after a struggle of 
twenty-four years, Candia also, in 1099 ; but some fortresses on this 
island held out till 1715. The possession of the Morea, which had 
been reconquered in 1699, was required to be given up by the peace 
of Passarowitz, in 1718 ; yet the republic succeeded in preserving 
Corfu and Dalmatia. From this time, Venice no longer took part in 
the great political events, and was satisfied with preserving her anti- 
quated constitution and her territory, Avhich yet contained three mil- 
lions of inhabitants. Thus she succeeded, by treaties with the Barbary 
powers, in 1763, in securing the inviolability of her flag, and established 
her rights of sovereignty against Rome in 1767 and 1769. But in 
the French revolutionary war, she became, in 1797, a victim to the 
French power. She excited a general insurrection on the terra firma, 
at the moment when Bonaparte entered Styria, and the French were 
attacked in the rear ; but Austria concluded the preliminaries of peace 
at Leoben, and the republic was annihilated. It was now of no avail 



VENICE. 



481 



to change the aristocratic constitution into a democratic. Venice was 
destined to be sacrificed. The peace of Campo-Formio gave the 
whole territory east of the Adige, with Dalmatia and Cattaro, to Aus- 
tria ; that west of the Adige to the Cisalpine republic, (at a later period, 
the kingdom of Italy,) to which, in 1805, the Austrian part of Venice 
and Dalmatia was added, yet without the islands in the Levant. Since 
1814, Venice, with its territory, has formed a part of the Lombardo- 
Venetian kingdom, belonging to Austria. 

The city of Venice itself is one of the most remarkable in the world. 
It is built entirely on small islands, having canals instead of streets, 
boats instead of cars, and black gondolas instead of coaches. These 
islands are connected with each other by 450 bridges, among which is 
the magnificent Rialto, consisting of a single arch 187 feet long, and 
43 feet wide. Many of the palaces are splendid specimens of architec- 
ture, and evidence the city's former grandeur. From the year 1311, the 
doge was accustomed to go out into the sea, in a richly-gilt galley called 
the Bucentaux", annually on Ascension day, to throw a ring into the 
water, and thus to marry, as it were, the Adriatic, as a sign of the 
power of Venice over that sea. 




31 




Italiaa Costume of the fourteenth centiu-y. 



ITALY— RIENZI AND MASSANIELLO. 




HEN any considerable body of people are 
suffering beneath the iron heel of oppression, 
and are disposed to revolt, a leading spirit is 
V" seldom wanting. It seems that there are al- 
:^ -ways men bold enough to peril their lives in 
^ heading a rebellion — though the number of 
jj those wise enough to conduct it to the desired 
end is not so evident. Occasionally, the dis- 
position to revolt is not apparent among an oppressed people until 
some person of extraordinary courage and activity of mind appears, 
to show them the road to a better state ; and the want of such a person 
is seldom of long continuance. Among the most striking illustra- 
tions of these remarks are the rebellions headed by Rienzi and Tomas 
Aniello — commonly called Massaniello, 

Nicolas Gabrini de Rienzi was born at Rome, early in the four- 
teenth century. Although the son of a vintner, he obtained a liberal 
education and an intimate knowledge of classical literature. The 
grandeur of ancient Rome excited his imagination, and he conceived 
the idea of restoring his country to her ancient pitch of power and 
glory. Possessing an advantageous person and great energy and 

482 



RIENZI AND MASSANIELLO. 



483 




eloquence, Rienzi made many friends, and at length was nominated 
one of the deputies sent to pope Clement VL, who resided at Avig- 
non, to induce him to return to Rome. Upon this mission he charmed 
the pope by his eloquence. He painted the character of the nobility 
of Rome in the blackest colours, attributed to them the desolation of 
the city, and drew so forcible a picture, that the pope promised to 
return to the city and reform abuses, if possible, and rewarded Rienzi 
by making him his apostolic notary. In this new office Rienzi so con- 
ducted himself as to win the favour of the mass of the people, but the 
hatred of the nobility. For his invectives against the vices of the 
great, he was at length reprimanded and displaced. 

From this time Rienzi made strenuous efforts to excite among the 
people an admiration of the glory and liberty of their fathers, and a 
strong desire for their salvation from decline and tyranny. A band 
of determined men were secured, and he resolved to seize upon the 
supreme power. The 20th of May, 1347, being Whitsuntide, was 
fixed to sanctify the enterprise. At that time, Stephen Colonna, 
governor of Rome, was absent. Rienzi summoned a secret assembly 
upon Mount Aventine, before which he made an eloquent speech, and 



484 RIENZI AND MASSANIELLO. 



induced them all to subscribe an oath for the establishment of a plan 
of government which he entitled the good estate. He had even the 
address to bind the pope's vicar to his interest, and in a second assem- 
bly in the capitol produced fifteen articles as the basis of the good 
estate, which were unanimously approved, and the people conferred 
upon him the title of tribune, with the attributes of sovereignty. 

The governor, upon his return to the city, threatened Rienzi with 
banishment. But such was the state of popular feeling, that Colonna 
himself fled to escape its fury. Rienzi banished several noble fami- 
lies, after capitally punishing such as were guilty of oppression and 
injustice. The fame of the new tribune extended throughout Italy. 
The pope sanctioned his authority, and the king of Hungary and the 
emperor Louis solicited his friendship. Many of his enemies were 
forced to acknowledge the justice of his acts. But Rienzi was dazzled 
by the splendour of his achievement, and at length assumed habits 
unbecoming a tribune of the people. A sort of reign of terror ensued. 
The love and admiration of the people vanished, and Rienzi withdrew 
to Naples. He returned to Rome in 1350 ; but was discovered and 
forced to fly to Prague. Thence he came into the hands of Pope Cle- 
ment, who confined him three years, and appointed a commissioner to 
try him. Innocent VI. released him, and sent him to Rome to oppose 
a demagogue named Boroncelli. The Romans received him with great 
demonstrations of joy, and he regained all his authority. But after 
a turbulent administration of a few months, in which his strong pas- 
sions led him to commit many acts of cruelty and extravagance, the 
nobles excited another sedition against him, and he was assassinated, 
October, 1354. Such was the end of Nicolas Rienzi, who, after form- 
ing a conspiracy full of extravagance, and executing it almost in the 
sight of the whole world, with such success that he became sovereign 
of Rome ; after causing justice, plenty, and liberty to flourish among the 
Romans, protecting potentates, terrifying sovereigns, and filling Eu- 
rope with his fame, fell a victim to his own want of discretion in the 
exercise of power, and the hatred of those whose vicious and oppres- 
sive lives he had denounced. 

Tomas Aniello, the most famous of Neapolitans, was a native of 
Amalfi, and the son of a fisherman. Removing to Naples, he became 
involved in difficulties, in consequence of his wife being discovered 
smuggling a small quantity of meal. He was sentenced to pay 
a fine of one hundred ducats, for which purpose it was necessary 
for him to sell even his household furniture. Massaniello was at that 
time about twenty-four years of age, of pleasing appearance, and distin- 
guished for courage, activity and integrity. Such a man feels oppression 



RIENZI AND MASSANIELLO. 



485 




more keenly than his fellows. It was about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century, and Naples was suffering from the iron rule of the 
Spaniards. The people were reduced to a miserable condition by 
the heavy taxes exacted by their masters, and ripe for any scheme 
which promised relief. 

Massaniello resolved to attempt the overthrow of the Spanish tyrants, 
and formed a design, with some of his companions, to raise a tumult 
in the market-place on the festival day of the Carmelites, when be- 
tween 500 and 1000 youths would entertain the people by a mock 
fight. Massaniello was captain of one of these parties, and Pione, 
his friend, headed the other. For several weeks before the festival, 
they were busy training their followers, and maturing their design. 
But the enterprise was precipitated by an unforeseen circumstance. 



486 RIENZI AND MASSANIELLO. 



On the 7th of July, 1647, a dispute occurred in the market-place 
between the tax-gatherers and some gardeners of Pozzuolo, who had 
brought some figs into the city, whether the buyer or seller should 
pay the duty. Massaniello, who was present, excited the mob to pil- 
lage the office built in the market for receiving the duty, and to drive 
away the officers. An officer informed the viceroy, but he neglected 
the means of putting an end to the commotion. 

Massaniello, in the mean time, was joined by great numbers of the 
people, and ordered his young troops to set fire to all the tax-offices 
through the city. This was quickly executed, and the rioters then 
proceeded to the viceroy's house. As they burst into it, he escaped 
at the back door and fled to the convent of Miucins, where, by the 
advice of several nobles, he signed a billet, by which all taxes upon 
provisions were abolished. The timid Spaniard also strove to detach 
the bold leader of the people from their interest, by offering him a 
pension of two thousand four hundred crowns. Massaniello nobly 
refused to accept it, and said he would be content if the viceroy kept 
his word in regard to the taxes. 

It was now expected that the tumult would cease. But Massaniello, 
being joined by a vast number of clamorous and desperate persons, 
was induced to order the offices of the tax-gatherers to be burned to 
the ground, and to take such measures as made him master of the 
city. One hundred thousand well-armed men were at his command, 
yet he used his absolute power with judgment and moderation, and 
appeared entirely disinterested. The Spanish nobles soon stimulated 
a conspiracy among his chief advisers, and an attempt was made to 
murder him. But it was frustrated, and the enthusiastic adherents of 
Massaniello immediately killed a hundred and fifty of his enemies. This 
conspiracy among those whom he had striven to serve naturally exaspe- 
rated the liberator, and he became suspicious and severe. By a treaty 
Avhich he concluded with the frightened Spanish nobles, he obtained 
great concessions for the people, who received it with most extravagant 
demonstrations of joy. Massaniello, at the desire of the viceroy, went 
to visit him at the palace, accompanied by the archbishop, who was 
obliged to threaten him with excommunication before he would lay 
aside his rags and assume a magnificent dress. The viceroy made him 
valuable presents, and gave him the commission of captain-general. 
In the exercise of the authority thus delegated, Massaniello was guilty 
of some extravagance and cruelty, which caused the formation of 
another conspiracy, and his assassination on the 18th of July, 1647. 




THE NETHERLANDS. 




HE Netherlands, or Lowlands, formerly 
included the states of Holland and 
Belgium, situated at the northwestern 
frontier of Germany. The surface of 
the country is even below the level of 
the sea, which is prevented from over- 
flowing the land by vast dikes or em- 
bankments. The Netherlands were con- 
1 quered and ruled by the Romans, and 
were afterward under the sway of the 
German emperors. But the most splendid and most interesting por- 
tion of their history commences with the revolt of the northern pro- 
vinces from the rule of Philip 11. of Spain. Prince William of Orange, 
a bold, ambitious, and able man, was appointed by Philip 11. governor 
of the provinces of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht. In 1579, he in- 
duced the people of seven provinces to declare their independence of 
the cruel and tyrannical rule of the king of Spain. They immediately 
elected him to be their chief ruler, under the title of stadtholder. This 
was followed by an obstinate and bloody struggle with the mighty po^er 
of Spain. But though the Spaniards had the reputation of being the 
best soldiers in Europe, and they were commanded successively by 
the duke of Alva and the duke of Parma, brave and skilful generals, 
the people of the provinces were equal to the contest. Under the 
lead of William, and, after his assassination in 1584, under that of 
his son Maurice, they maintained their ground, and even gained some 
advantages. The duke of Parma, with all his valour, skill, and perse- 
verance, was several times completely foiled. 

Upon the sea, the power and influence of the Netherlanders arose 

487 



488 



THE NETHERLANDS. 




Duke of Alva. 



rapidly after their declaration of independence. They were supported 
by the English, and the aid of such a powerful nation caused them to 
persevere in the hard struggle for their rights. At the close of the 
sixteenth century, the Dutch commerce reached to almost every quar- 
ter of the globe ; and in 1602 their famous East India Company was 
established. The United Provinces, as they were generally named, 
became so formidable, that, in 1609, Spain was glad to conclude a 
truce of twelve years with them. By the middle of the seventeenth 
century, they formed the first commercial state and maritime power 



THE NETHERLANDS. 



489 




Duke of Parma. 



in the world. With about one hundred vessels of war, they bade de- 
fiance to every rival. The East India Company conquered islands and 
kingdoms in the East, and, with about two hundred ships, carried on a 
trade with China, and even Japan. The West India Company was not 
so successful, on account of the jealousy of England and France. 

Louis XIV. laid a deep plan to humble the provinces, and declared 
war against them. But upon the sea the Dutch were supreme. Their 
famous admirals. Von Tromp and De Ruyter, gained many victories, 
and won immortal honour. Upon the land, Maurice, who had been 
raised to supreme power through the influence of the able citizen 
Barnevelt, was successful against the best French generals. Louis 
was finally obliged to sue for peace. In 1621, the war with Spain 
was renewed. During its progress, Prince Frederic Henry, the 
youngest son of the first William, greatly distinguished himself. In 



490 



THE NETHERLANDS. 




1G48, Philip of Spain renounced all claim to the United Provinces, 
and thus the long struggle for independence was terminated. 

In 1652, the Provinces became involved in a war with England, 
which was then under the efficient rule of Oliver Cromwell. The 
English were the only people able to cope with the Dutch upon the 
sea, and a most obstinate contest ensued. The English admiral 
Blake distinguished himself by his valour and skill ; and the Dutch 
admirals Von Tromp and De Ruyter displayed those heroic qualities 
which have made them the idols of their nation. At the end of two 
years a treaty of peace was concluded, in which the states of Holland 
agreed to exclude the house of Orange for ever from the stadtholder- 
ship. 

Upon the accession of Charles II. to the throne of England, the 
war was rekindled, and the fiercest struggle for supremacy upon the 
sea ensued which is to be found in naval annals. Here, again, Blake 
and the duke of Albemarle, Von Tromp and De Ruyter, won laurels by 



THE NETHERLANDS. 



491 




their skill and courage. The results of the combats between the rival 
fleets were generally equal. Von Tromp was killed during one of these 
obstinate contests ; but De Ruyter upheld the reputation of his nation. 
The war continued till the treaty of Breda, in consenting to which, 
the Dutch ceded the colony of New York to the English. Though the 
Provinces gained much honour during these contests, their commerce 
suffered terribly from the numerous British cruisers, and they were 
glad to obtain peace on honourable terms. 

When France formed a design to seize on the Spanish Netherlands, 
the United Provinces entered into an alliance with England and Swe- 
den for the defence of those countries. France was compelled to ac- 
knowledge the strength of this alliance at the treaty of Aix-la-Cha- 



492 



THE NETHERLANDS. 




Williara III. of Orange. 



pelle. In 1682, William, the young prince of Orange, was nominated 
captain and admiral-general of the Provinces, and the states of Hol- 
land were compelled to invest him with the stadtholdership. William 
married the princess Mary, eldest daughter of James II. of England, 
and, by invitation of the people of that country, became their king. 
Upon the death of this bold prince, his grandson William was chosen 
stadtholder, captain, and admiral-general, by the people of the Pro- 
vinces. In the general war which broke out in Europe in 1756, the 
Dutch took no part in the quarrel, and were, perhaps, the greatest 
gainers, by supplying the belligerent powers with military stores. 

In the course of the war which resulted in the establishment of the 
independence of the United States of America, the states of Holland 
entered into a treaty with the revolted colonies, which drew from 
England a declaration of war against them. The Dutch commerce and 
foreign possessions now suffered from the activity of the British fleets 
and cruisers. Richly-laden vessels from the East Indies fell into the 
hands of the British, and the Dutch settlements in India were wrested 
from them. A fleet of merchant ships, bound to the Baltic, convoyed 
by a squadron of Dutch men-of-war, under the command of Admiral 
Zoutman, was obliged to return to the Texel, after a severe contest 
with a British fleet, under Sir Hyde Parker. The Dutch lost a seventy- 



THE NETHERLANDS. 493 



four gun ship in this encounter. In the mean time, the emperor of 
Germany prepared a powerful army to compel the government of the 
States to open the passage of the Scheldt. A war was prevented, by 
the interposition of the courts of Berlin and Versailles. The emperor 
withdrew his claims, upon the payment of a large sum of money. 

The invasion of the French revolutionists, in 1792, changed the 
whole aspect of affairs both in Holland and Belgium. Dumouriez 
gained a great victory over the Belgians at Jemappe, and a few days 
after entered Brussels. The republican party, which was opposed to 
the house of Orange, joined the French, and secured the country in 
their possession. But the English, Austrian, and Dutch armies made 
an effort for the recovery of the country, and a two years' war en- 
sued. The result was the complete triumph of the French republicans. 
In 1795, Pichegru made an easy conquest of Holland. The old pro- 
vinces were then merged in the Batavian republic, formed upon the 
French model. When peace had been concluded betAveen Great Bri- 
tain and France, and hopes of better times began to bud, the thunder 
of war again resounded on the shores of Holland. Its ports were 
blockaded, its fleets annihilated, its colonies lost, and its prosperity 
seemingly gone for ever. Napoleon became master of the country, and 
used its resources until they were exhausted. The people suffered 
every species of want under the iron rule of the conqueror, and they 
were not entirely relieved until the battle of Waterloo broke his long- 
victorious sword. 





HUNGARY. 




HUNGARY, which now forms part of the Austrian 
empire, was formerly a separate and important 
kincfdom. The Huns, the original inhabitants 
of the country, are said to have been a nation of 
ferocious savages, emanating from Scythia, or 
Western Tartary. They became known to the 
Romans about 209 of the Christian era. The 
people of Hungary consist of seven distinct races, viz. : Magyars, 
Slowacks, Croatians, Germans, Wallachians, Rusviacks, and Jews, of 
whom the Magyars are by far the most numerous and considerable. 

But little is known of the history of Hungary during the existence 
of the Eastern and AVestern empires. Stephen, king of the Hungari- 
ans, was converted to Christianity about the beginning of the eleventh 
century. Idolatry soon after disappeared in the country, and the 
condition of the people began to improve. In the thirteenth century, 
an invasion of the Mongols desolated Hungary and checked all im- 
provement. After this destructive wave had retired, the wounds of 
the country were healed by Bela IV. From this time, the Hungarians 
were almost constantly engaged in wars with the emperors of Ger- 
many and the Turks. The country fell to the house of Austria in 
1687. In 1740, Maria Theresa succeeded her father Charles VI. 
upon the throne. She was in great danger of being deprived of her 
hereditary dominions ; but, possessing a mind of masculine strength, 
the queen rallied the nobility to her support, excited their sympathy 
by exhibiting to them her infant son, the heir of the imperial throne, 
and was enabled to resist her combined enemies. After the death of 
Maria Theresa, Hungary was brought more immediately under the 
government of the house of Austria ; and it became a settled law of 
succession, that the eldest son of the emperor should be recognised as 
king of Hungary. 

49-1 



HUNGARY. 



497 




Maria Theresa presenting lier infant son to the axray. 



The country remained tranquil until the French revolution of 1848 
gave the volcanic shock to the people of Europe. The friends of 
republicanism throughout the continent seized the occasion to assert 
and maintain their principles. Hungary now became the scene of a 
desperate struggle — at first, to uphold the authority of the diet, and 
then for distinctive national existence. 

In the latter part of August, 1848, the Hungarian diet became 
involved in a dispute with Jellachich, ban of Croatia, and war ensued. 
Before force was tried, the diet sent a deputation to Vienna. The 
Viennese assembly would not receive it, as that body sided with the 
ban of Croatia ; and the diet, deeply wounded by the insult, conferred 
dictatorial powers upon the able and active Louis Kossuth. 

Jellachich, at the head of the Croat army, crossed the Drave, and 
traversing all southern Hungary without meeting opposition, arrived 
at Stuhlweissenburg, within a day's march of Pesth, the capital of the 
country. Encouraged by the invasion of Jellachich, the emperor of 
Austria resolved to put an end to the distractions in Hungary, as he 
termed them. Count Lamberg was appointed to command all the 
forces in the kingdom. The diet resolved that the count's commission 
was illegal ; and when he arrived at Pesth, in the latter part of Sep- 
tember, he was attacked by a mob, killed, and his body dragged 
through the streets. When it was discovered that the imperial 

32 



498 



HUNGARY. 




Louis Eossath. 



government aided Jellachicli by secret subsidies, the Magyars resolved 
upon resistance. At Pesth, every man took up arms, and even ladies 
worked in the trenches. 

While the ban was waiting for artillery to besiege Pesth, he was 
attacked by an irregular force, led by Mezzaros, the Hungarian 
minister of war, and so severely handled that he withdrew to Raab 
and Comorn, where he could command the Danube and the Vienna 
road to Buda. In the mean time, the people of Vienna revolted, and, 
headed by Generals Bem and Messenhauser, defended the capital 
against Prince Windischgratz, with 100,000 men and 140 guns, for 
four days, but were at length completely subdued, the city pillaged, 
and many of the principal republicans executed. The emperor Ferdi- 
nand was obliged to abdicate, and Francis Joseph II. was proclaimed 
in his stead. The diet of Hungary refused to acknowledge the young 
emperor, and both sides now prepared for war. 

The imperial generals collected all their forces, and enclosed Hun- 
gary in a ring of bayonets and cannon. The main army of invasion 
was led by Windischgratz, and there were others under Schlich, 



HUNGARY. 



499 




Dahler, Puchner, Urban, and Wardener. The Hungarians, stimu- 
lated by the eloquence of Kossuth, made extraordinary exertions. 
An army of 50,000 infantry, 1200 hussars, and 54 cannon dared to 
march to the plains of Vienna, and give battle to 130,000 Austrians, 
under Windischgratz. The Hungarians fought with surprising valour, 
but were defeated, and left six thousand men dead upon the field. The 
loss of the enemy was much greater. Defeat but stimulated the people 
to greater exertion, and, at the close of 1848, more than 100,000 
Hungarians were in the field. But their forces were divided, and 
they were compelled to evacuate their capital, Pesth, by the imperial- 
ists. A garrison, however, was left in the strong fortress of Comorn. 
Sixty thousand men, under General Georgey, held the plains between 
the Danube and the Theis. Bem, with fifteen thousand men, de- 
fended the rear. 



500 HUNGARY. 



At first, the Hungarians were everywhere driven back, and their 
cause was regarded as hopeless. But the face of things changed its 
expression. By skilful manoeuvring, Bern regained Transylvania, 
driving out the Russians who were advancing in that direction. A 
two days' battle was fought near Exlan. The Austrians claimed the 
victory, but derived no benefit from it. In the mean time, the active 
Georgey defeated the enemy opposed to him in several brilliant 
engagements. The Austrians were now glad to escape from the Hun- 
garian territory. "VVindiscligratz was succeeded by Welden, said to 
be the best Austrian general. On the 20th and 21st of April, 1849, 
a n;reat battle was fought near Ofer, in which the Austrians were 
totally defeated, with the loss of twenty guns and two thousand prison- 
ers. On the 24th, Dembinski, at the head of fifteen thousand Mag- 
yars and Poles, took possession of Pesth, amid every manifestation 
of joy on the part of the people. The Austrians then raised the siege 
of Comorn. 

The triumphant Magyars now made known the terms upon which 
they would cease hostilities ; but the imperial government refused to 
accede to them, and obtained the assistance of the giant power of 
Russia to crush the Hungarian heroes. This vast array of terrible 
force did not daunt that people. They nerved themselves for a more 
glorious effort. Kossuth was chosen governor of Hungary, and the 
diet proclaimed its intention to establish a republic. According to 
the report of the minister of war, the Hungarian army consisted of 
390,000 troops, commanded by Bern, Georgey, Dembipski, Perczel, 
Guyen, Klapka, Damenburg, Gaspar, Vctter, and Aulich. 

The Austrians, under the baron Haynau, again prepared for inva- 
sion. Marching down the Danube, Haynau captured several towns, 
and committed acts of the most atrocious cruelty. Jellachich, with 
an army of Croats, advanced from the southwest, and Prince Paskie- 
witch, at the head of the Russians, advanced from the northeast. In 
the brief campaign which followed, the Magyars under Bern defeated 
the Croats under Jellachich, and, after a series of combats lasting 
four days, compelled the imperialists to raise the siege of Peterwardein. 
The information of the defeat of Jellachich was conveyed to Kossuth 
by Bern in three words, Beni, Bam, Boom ! The plan of Kossuth 
was to unite the Hungarians, to fall upon each of the invading armies 
before they could unite. But the plan of the governor was defeated 
by the insubordination of the various commanders, and by the obsti- 
nacy or treachery of Georgey. The last-mentioned general became 
entangled between the armies of Haynau and Paskiewitch, and from 
this time the affairs of Hungary began to droop. The diet threw its 



HUNGARY. 



503 




General Georgey. 



powers into the hands of Georgey, who was proclaimed dictator. 
After a consultation with Kossuth, Bern, and other leaders, he pro- 
tested that the struggle was a hopeless one, and resolved to bring it 
to an end. The result of this resolution was the unconditional sur- 
render of his whole army into the hands of the Russians. 

Before this weak, or treacherous, act, the garrison at Comorn sallied 
out and captured the city and citadel of Raab, gaining a complete 
triumph over the Austrians. Bern and Guyon were surrounded by 
the Russians, but succeeded in making their escape. Dembinski was 
defeated in the north, and about sixteen thousand men surrendered to 
the Russians. The garrison of Comorn, under General Klapka, still 
held out, and was furnished to stand a long siege. But Radetski, the 
Austrian general, promised the garrison very honourable terms, and 
they surrendered. Thus the Hungarians were entirely subdued. 
This brave people might have successfully combated the overwhelming 



504 



HUNGARY. 




Count Bathyani. 



numbers of their enemy. Their armies were well provided, and com- 
posed of those who had won the reputation of being equal to any 
troops in Europe. The disastrous close of the revolt may be attri- 
buted to the successful intrigues of the party which placed authority 
in Georgey's hands, and the ignominious surrender of that general. 

When Hungary was at their feet, the Austrians, under the conduct 
of the savage Ilaynau, acted in a manner to be expected only of a 
barbarous people. Combatants and non-combatants, priests, women 
and children, fell victims to the thirst for vengeance and hatred of free 
institutions, and were either put to death, thrown into prison, or 
scourged by the conquerors. Among the victims whose death excited 
much sympathy Avas the Count Bathyani, Kossuth's minister of war. 
The conduct of the imperialists excited a detestation of that govern- 
ment throughout Christendom. Kossuth, Bem, Dembinski, and other 
leaders of the patriots took refuge in Turkey. They were protected 
by the sultan, who, sustained by France and England, firmly resisted 
the demands for their surrender made by Russia and Austria. 




INDIA. 




HE name of India, with the ancients, 
included no more than the peninsulas on 
the east and west sides of the Ganges; 
they possessed little, if any, knowledge of 
the country beyond. All accounts of the 
original inhabitants of India depend upon 
the reports of foreigners and vague tradi- 
tions unworthy of reliance. The greater 
part of this vast country was conquered by 
Darius Hystaspes, king of Persia. A por- 
tion of it fell under the sway of Alexander the Great. The territory 
of Porus, which Alexander first subdued, is said to have contained no 
fewer than two thousand towns, and a neighbouring king had assem- 
bled a vast army to oppose the conqueror's progress. After the death 
of Alexander, Seleucus, his successor in the East, made extensive 
conquests in the country which his master had begun to subdue. 
From this time until the fifteenth century, few attempts were made 
to establish the supremacy of European arms in India ; but, by way 
of Egypt, an extensive commercial intercourse was carried on between 
the people of southern Europe and the nations of the East. 

When the Romans conquered Egypt, the Indian commodities con- 
tinued to be imported to Alexandria, and thence to Rome ; though 

607 



508 INDIA. 

much came by way of Tadmor in the desert, called by the Greeks 
Palmyra. When the Roman empire was divided, Constantinople 
became a great mart for Indian commodities, and, for more than two 
centuries, Europe was supplied from it. The perpetual hostilities 
between the Christians and Mohammedans increased the diflficulties 
of this intercourse, but it continued. About the end of the tenth 
century, the conquests of Mahmoud Gazni, who erected the empire of 
Gazna, effected a complete revolution in India ; and it is from that 
time that the authentic history of the country can be followed. Mah- 
moud conquered nearly the whole of India, destroyed thousands of the 
natives, obtained immense booty, and established the supremacy of the 
Mohammedan creed. 

The death of Mahmoud was the knell of his extensive empire ; none 
of his successors possessed the strength to uphold it, and it was torn 
to pieces by rival princes. In 1210, two empires were formed from 
the remains of the Gaznian empire ; but the bloody Genghis Khan 
crushed one of them, leaving Ilindostan unmolested. Destructive 
wars now ensued between the Tartar governors and the people, and 
massacre and plunder fdl the measure of the history of India for many 
years. In 1394, Tamerlane invaded India and made an easy con- 
quest of Ilindostan. Though no resistance was offered, this monster 
ordered a general massacre of the inhabitants, and more than one 
hundred thousand of them are said to have perished in one hour. In 
January, 1399, the conqueror defeated the Indian army with great 
slaughter, and soon after took the great city of Delhi. No resistance 
was made here ; but the Tartars fomented a quarrel and massacred 
most of the people ; the spoil they obtained was of immense value. 
On the 25th of March, this terrible conqueror retired from the devas- 
tated country, reserving only the Punjaub for himself. 

In 1555, Acbar, one of the greatest princes who ever reigned in 
Hindostan, succeeded to the tlirone. During his long reign of fifty- 
one years, he established the empire upon a sure foundation. About 
this time, Vasco de Gama, the celebrated Portuguese navigator, having 
doubled the Cape of Good Hope, arrived in Ilindostan. He was well 
received ; and, after making many useful observations, he returned to 
Europe. From that time may be dated the profitable intercourse 
which the Europeans maintained with the people of India. Lisbon 
became the great mart for Indian commodities, and the Portuguese 
established factories and settlements in the middle of Malabar. To- 
wards the close of the sixteenth century, Drake, Stephens, Cavendish, 
Dampier, and other English navigators doubled the Cape of Good 
Hope, and reached India. These successful expeditions induced the 



INDIA. 



509 




English to form the East India Company, with the exckisive privilege 
of trading to the East Indies for fifteen years. The first trading 
efforts of this company were well received by the natives, and were 
perfectly successful. The Dutcb, however, had founded colonies and 
trading-posts in some of the Indian islands, and, jealous of the Eng- 
lish, took every occasion to annoy them. Many bloody and obstinate 
engagements occurred, and the Dutch were generally successful. 
The English were forced to yield to their power before the death of 
Charles I., but under Cromwell they regained their influence in the 
East. 

The reign of Jehan Guire, the successor of Acbar, was disturbed by 
the rebellion of his son, Shah Jehan. When Shah Jehan ascended 
the throne, he expelled the Portuguese from the Hoogly, and conquered 
the Deccan. He was a debauched prince ; and his rebellion against his 
father was retaliated by that of his son, the cool and crafty Aureng- 
zebe, who dethroned him, disguising his ambition under the mask of 
religion, and committing many crimes under the same convenient pre- 
tence. He defeated and put to death his two brothers, and in 1660 



510 



INDIA. 




obtained full possession of the throne. At his death, in 1707, the 
empire of Aurengzebe extended from 10° to 35° latitude, and nearly 
as many degrees in longitude. His revenue exceeded c£35,000,000 
sterling. But so heavy a sceptre required a poAverful arm to uphold 
it ; and, within fifty years after the death of Aurengzebe, a succes- 
sion of weak princes had reduced this empire to nothing. 

In 1722, at the invitation of the prince of the Mahrattas, Nadir 
Shah, the famous usurper of Persia, invaded Hindostan, massacred 
about one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, obtained immense 
booty, married one of his sons to the grand-daughter of Aurengzebe, 
and then retired, having completely humbled the emperor, Mohammed 
Shah. In 1748, the Nizam Al-Mulk, prince of the Deccan, died, and 
was succeeded by his son Nazir Jung, to the prejudice of his elder 
brother Gazi. The contest that ensued on this occasion for the throne 



INDIA. 



511 




of tlie Deccan and the nabobship of Arcot, first engaged the British 
and French to act as auxiliaries on opposite sides. Immediately after 
the peace of Aix-la-Ghapelle, the French commandant, M. Dupleix, 
began to sow dissensions among the nabobs who had usurped the 
sovereignty of the country. 

Mr, (afterward Lord) Clive, at the head of two hundred British 
troops and five hundred sepoys, now marched toward Arcot. His 
movements were conducted with such secrecy and despatch, that he 
made himself master of the enemy's capital before they knew of his 
march, and he gained the afiections of the people by afibrding them 
protection without ransom. 

This exploit entirely changed the tide of afiairs in the Deccan. Chan- 
da Sahib, whose cause the French supported, as was expected, sent the 
greater part of his forces from Trichinopoly, under the command of 
his son, who, entering Arcot, besieged the fortress, which the British 
commander defended, for seven weeks, with his few men, against a 
host of foes. At length, finding that the numbers of the enemy were 
daily increasing, he resolved to make a bold effort to disperse them, 
and went out with the greater part of his garrison, when an engage- 



612 



INDIA. 




ment took place in the streets ; and although he was obliged to retire 
again to the fort, the loss of the enemy had been so great, that they 
quitted the town in the night, and being pursued by the British com- 
mander, who was reinforced by a body of Mahrattas and a fresh de- 
tachment of troops from Madras, they were totally routed ; and thus 
the adventurous expedition of Captain Clive was crowned with com- 
plete success. 

The adherents of Chanda Sahib now began to desert him in such 
vast numbers, that he was, at length, driven by despair to accept an 
offer of protection from the rajah of Tanjore ; but when he arrived at 
the court of that treacherous prince, instead of finding the asylum he 



INDIA. 613 

expected, he vras loaded with chains, and thrown into a dungeon, where 
he was soon put to death. 

This event made the English masters of the Carnatic. Mohammed 
Ali was declared nabob, and Captain Clive was rewarded for his ser- 
vices by a higher rank in the army. The French, however, still car- 
ried on the war, on pretence that the subahdar of the Deccan had 
granted to them the sovereignty of the Carnatic, which was one of his 
dependencies ; but the English contended that the subahdar, being 
himself an usurper, whose title to the throne had never been recognised 
by the emperor, he had no right to dispose of the principality in ques- 
tion, which belonged to their ally, Mohammed Ali. The French again 
laid siege to Trichinopoly, which was so ill supplied with provisions, 
that the inhabitants, in number about four hundred thousand, were 
obliged to leave the city, carrying away with them such property 
as they could conveniently move, and most probably burying a great 
quantity of treasure in the earth, which was a common practice among 
the natives of India in time of war. The siege of the deserted city, 
which was defended by only about two thousand men, composing the 
garrison, lasted more than a year, during which the emperor, Ahmed 
Shah, was deposed, and his place supplied by a prince, Avho afterward 
became a pensioner of the British government. 

The empire of the Moguls in India had become very weak from 
internal dissensions. It offered a fair aim for the warlike Ahmed, 
king of the Afghans ; and he promptly invaded its territory. Cap- 
turing Delhi, he subjected that unfortunate city to all the horrors 
perpetrated by Nadir Shah ; and after completely establishing his 
superiority over the Mogul emperor, he made peace with him and 
retired. But the Mahrattas, who had now become so ambitious as to 
aim at subduin"; the whole of Hindostan, did not allow the Mogul em- 
peror to remain at peace. They invaded his territory, took Delhi, 
and though defeated and compelled to retire by the timely interference 
of the king of the Afghans, yet desolation attended their progress, 
(January, 1761.) Soon after, the empire of the Moguls, being left 
without a head, was virtually ended. 

In the mean time, the question of French or English supremacy in 
India was decided. The issue of the contest was for a long time 
doubtful ; but the British arms at length prevailed, and in a few days 
after the great defeat of the Mahrattas, the French capital of Pondi- 
cherry w^as surrendered to Col. Coote, and the hopes of France with 
regard to extending her dominion over the East were blighted. During 
this war, M. Dupleix distinguished himself by his crafty policy ; and 
Count Lally, the French general, laid siege to Madras, which was 

33 




bravely defended for two months, when the arrival of a British squad- 
ron, with fresh troops, forced the enemy to retire. Madras was at 
this period the capital of the British possessions in India. 

The next transaction of which we shall speak in the complicated 
history of India is, the wars with the native princes, which led to 
the important conquests of Bengal and Mysore, by which a company 
of British merchants became the powerful sovereigns of a vast empire. 
The English authorities in Bengal had been opposed from the begin- 
ning by the viceroys of that province, until the time of Aliverdi Khan, 
a prince of great skill, both in civil and military affairs, who had suc- 
cessfully protected his dominions from the inroads of Mahrattas, and 
was ruling at the time of the defeat and capture of the pirate Angria. 



INDIA. 515 

Aliverdi was a friend to tlie English and their trade. He allowed 
them to dig a moat round Calcutta, to protect that city from predatory 
attacks, and granted them many privileges, by which they were en- 
abled to improve their settlements in Bengal. 

Aliverdi died in 1756, when he was succeeded in the office of nabob, 
or governor, by his grand-nephew, Suraja Dowlah, a narrow-minded 
tyrannical prince, who had always disliked the Europeans, and very 
soon found a pi'etext for commencing hostilities. The English had so 
long enjoyed the protection and friendship of Aliverdi Khan, that 
they were but ill prepared for a war with his successor : therefore, when 
he appeared before Calcutta with a force that made resistance hopeless, 
all the women and children were sent at night on board a vessel, to be 
conveyed to a place of safety, while the council assembled to deliberate 
on the means of warding off the threatened danger. So great was the 
alarm, that all the rest of the ships sailed away at da^'break, Avith the 
English governor, and some others, who Avere selfish enough to secure 
their own retreat ; thus depriving those who remained of their only 
means of escape. 

It was immediately made known to Suraja Dowlah that the fort 
would be surrendered ; whereupon, his troops marched in, and took 
possession. The nabob entered soon afterward, accompanied by his 
vizier, Mir Jaffier, and although he had promised that no violence 
should be offered to the garrison, amounting to one hundred and forty- 
six individuals, he ordered that they should be all confined till the 
morning in a small dark room, called the Black Hole, scarcely eighteen 
feet square, where, during a night of the most horrible suffering, one 
hundred and twenty-three human beings died of thirst and suffocation, 
while the few who survived were found cither in a state of stupefaction 
or frightful delirium. It appears that the nabob had not anticipated 
the fatal consequences of confining his prisoners in the Black Hole, 
yet he evinced neither pity nor remorse when informed of the dreadful 
catastrophe, but merely desired that the English chief, meaning the 
governor of the fort, if still alive, should be brought before him. Mr. 
Howell, the gentleman who had assumed that office after the flight 
of the governor, was accordingly supported, more dead than alive, into 
his presence, when Suraja allowed him to sit down, and desired that 
a glass of water should be given to him ; but not a word of regret was 
uttered by the unfeeling prince for the calamity of which he had been 
the cause. 

The following anecdote will afford an instance of the dread in which 
this tyrant was held. One of the Hindoo guards set to watch the pri- 
son on that fearful night was willing, for a large bribe, to represent 



516 



INDIA. 




Monument to the sufferers in the Black Hole. 



to him the horrible situation of the sufferers, and beg that they might 
be placed in a larger apartment ; but the nabob was asleep, and the 
soldier had not the courage to disturb him, although strongly tempted, 
both by interest and humanity, so to do. 

Calcutta was very soon retaken by Colonel Clive, who also sent an 
expedition to the rich city of Hoogly, about twenty-five miles higher 
up the river, which was taken and plundered. The rage of Suraja 
Dowlah at these successes was unbounded. He laid siege to Calcutta, 
but soon finding there was no prospect of regaining possession of it, 
he consented to make peace, on terms sufficiently favourable to the 
English. 

These events occurred in the early part of the war with the French ; 
and as it was thought not improbable that the nabob of Bengal might, 
under the circumstances, be disposed to afford aid to any power op- 
posed to the English, Colonel Clive was induced to enter into the 
views of the vizier, JNIir Jaffier, who aspired to the sovereignty of 
Bengal, which he proposed to obtain by deposing his master. The 
British government at Calcutta sanctioned this treasonable conspiracy, 
on condition of deriving considerable advantages in case of its success. 



INDIA. 517 

This was the occasion of the famous battle of Plassey, fought on the 
twenty- third of June, 1757, and won by Colonel Clive, the event of 
which decided the future fortunes of India. The victory, however, 
was much facilitated by the desertion of Mir Jaffier, with a great part 
of Suraja's troops, according to the plan which he had concerted with 
bis allies. 

The nabob, who had remained in his tent during the engagement, 
no sooner heard of the defection of his vizier, than he mounted a camel, 
and fled towards his capital, Moorshedabad, a city on the Ganges, now 
gone to decay. Here the unfortunate prince soon found that a tyrant 
must not expect to meet with friends in his misfortunes. He left the 
city in disguise, and hired a boat, intending to proceed up the river as 
far as Patna ; but when he arrived at Raj-mahal, the boatmen declared 
they would go no farther till the next day, nor could he prevail on 
them to alter their resolution. In this distress, he sought conceal- 
ment for the night in a deserted garden of this once splendid city, 
which, before the time of Aliverdi Khan, had been the residence of 
the viceroys of Bengal ; and here he was seen and recognised, in the 
morning, by a man whom he had formerly treated with unjust severity, 
and who now revenged himself by betraying the unhappy fugitive to 
his enemies. His fate was speedily decided. He was delivered into 
the hands of his late vizier, who had already assumed the rank of sove- 
reign, and being shut up in a remote apartment of the palace, was there 
put to death in the night, by assassins sent for that purpose. 

The English received from the new sovereign of Bengal an immense 
sum of money, with a large accession of territory around Calcutta, 
and the right of taking possession of all the French settlements and 
factories in the province. The valiant and able Clive was soon after 
made governor of the English possessions in India. 

No name is more celebrated in the history of India than that of 
Hyder Ali. From being the captain of a small band of robbers, this 
daring man raised himself by degrees to be king of Mysore. This he 
effected about the time the English completed the conquest of Bengal. 
He then rapidly extended his conquests in all directions, desolating 
countries, and obtaining a great amount of plunder. 

The successes of the king of Mysore naturally alarmed the other 
potentates, and especially the sovereign of the Deccan, Nizim Ali. 
This monarch declared war against Hyder Ali, and the English, who 
were his allies, were drawn into the contest. The war began in 1767, 
and continued with varied success for two years. During the contest, 
Tippoo Saib, son of Hyder Ali, then a youth of seventeen, distin- 
guished himself by his courage and ability. The advantage was on 



518 



INDIA. 




Hyder Ali. 



tlic side of ITydcr Ali, who had bribed the Mahrattas to withdraw 
from the confederacy. At length a treaty of peace was concluded, 
which placed all parties in the same position they occupied at the 
commencement of the war. The iNIahrattas, however, invaded Mysore 
soon after the treaty was concluded, and were so successful, that Ily- 
dcr Ali was compelled to purchase peace by the cession of a portion 
of his northern dominions, and the payment of a large sum of money. 

In the mean time, the government of Great Britain, aware of the 
political importance of the East India Company, resolved to have a 
voice in the government of the territories conquered by it. Several 
important alterations were made in the regulations of the country, and 
Warren Hastings was appointed first governor-general. During the 
troubles between Hyder Ali and the other native princes, the English 
managed to gain the cession of the valuable port and islands adjacent 
to Bombay. They became involved in a war with the INIahrattas, and 
obtained various successes over them, but soon made peace with them, 
in consequence of another war with Ilyder Ali. 

The king of Mysore, having resolved to begin the war against the 
English, appeared on the frontiers of his kingdom in the month of 
June, 1780, with 80,000 efficient troops and 100 pieces of cannon. 



INDIA. 521 

At the head of this host, he entered the Carnatic, and marched direct 
towards Madras, where his approach was first announced by the 
columns of smoke and flame that were seen ascending from the burn- 
ing villages. The English were in the utmost consternation, for it 
was impossible for them to bring their troops together, which M'ere 
dispersed over the country in small detachments, and the principal 
roads were occupied by the enemy. Two divisions, however, succeeded, 
though with great diflSculty, in joining each other, and Avhen united, 
formed a little army of between three and four thousand men, Eu- 
ropeans and sepoys ; but these were furiously attacked by the My- 
soreans, and all cut to pieces, with the exception of about two hun- 
dred, who were made prisoners, and conveyed to Seringapatam, where 
they were thrown into dungeons, in chains, and scarcely allowed suffi- 
cient of the coarsest food to keep them alive. 

Hyder was a barbarian in warfare. A terrible instance of his 
cruelty was exhibited during the invasion of Calicut, when he offered 
a reward of five rupees for every human head that should be brought 
to him, and sat in state to receive, and pay for, the dreadful trophies, 
of which, it is said, above seven hundred were presented to the mer- 
ciless conqueror, without exciting in him the least signs of remorse, 
till a soldier appeared, bearing two heads so remarkably beautiful, 
that he was touched with pity, and gave orders to stop the massacre. 

After the defeat of the British troops, Hyder laid siege to the city 
of Arcot, which was surrendered ; and he then invested several of the 
strongest towns in the Carnatic. Arcot was still considered the capi- 
tal of the nabob, Mohammed Ali, whose sovereignty continued to be 
acknowledged by the presidency of Madras, which was now subordi- 
nate to that of Bengal. In the latter presidency, the British govern- 
ment was supreme, and all the civil officers of the interior were 
appointed by the governor-general, who resided at Calcutta ; conse- 
quently, that city had become the capital of the British dominions in 
India. Warren Hastings, who was then governor-general, on hearing 
of the successes of Hyder Ali, sent Sir Eyre Coote, a veteran officer 
of the highest military reputation, to stop the career of the invaders, 
whose ravages had converted the country into a desert ; so that when 
the British forces marched from Madras under the conduct of General 
Coote, they were obliged to carry with them all kinds of supplies, as 
though they were about to cross the deserts of Arabia, instead of 
marching through an inhabited country. The expedition was, on the 
whole, successful. Hyder Ali and his wai'like son were forced to aban- 
don the places they were besieging, and at length sustained a total de- 
feat at Cuddalore, where the two armies came to a regular engagement. 



522 INDIA. 

About this time, Lord Macartney, whose name is known in the his- 
tory of China as ambassador to the court of the emperor Kien-long, 
having been appointed governor of Madras, arrived in India, bring- 
ing news of a war between England and Holland. In consequence 
of this intelligence, the English made an immediate attack on the 
Dutch settlements on the coast of Coromandel, and the important 
station of Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon, which were, in turn, 
surrendered to the assailants ; and the Dutch were thus expelled from 
every possession which they had held in India, except that of the 
island of Java. 

The war with Ilyder Ali, who had received aid from the French, 
was still prosecuted, with varied fortune, until his death, which hap- 
pened in the year 1782, he being then above eighty years of age. 

Hyder Ali was succeeded by his son, Tippoo Saib, a prince equal 
to his father in ambition and military talent, but much inferior in 
political wisdom. He maintained the war against the English until 
the news of a peace between Great Britain and France occasioned the 
secession of his French allies, and led to a treaty with the British in 
March, 1784. All conquests were mutually restored, and all prisoners 
set at liberty. Tippoo Saib now became the most powerful prince in 
India. lie assumed the title of padsha, which signifies supreme ruler. 
Many of his actions were characterized by extreme cruelty. Among 
others, the condemnation of liis enemies to be trampled to death by 
elephants, may be mentioned. But, on the Avhole, his subjects were 
well governed, and enjoyed a great degree of prosperity. The high 
pretensions and the encroachments of Tippoo Saib at length gave rise 
to a powerful league against him, formed by the Mahrattas and the 
nizam. In 178G, the army of the league advanced to the frontier of 
the sultan's dominions. Tippoo readily proceeded to meet his enemies, 
and gained some advantages ; but apprehending that the English were 
about to join them, he agreed to a treaty of peace. 

The English were now presented with an opportunity for humbling 
the ambitious Tippoo. He attacked and conquered Travancore, and 
committed many horrible atrocities. The English sent assistance to 
the rajah, and formed an offensive alliance with the nizam and 
Mahrattas. They commenced the war by driving the sultan and his 
troops out of the province of Malabar. 

Early in 1791, Lord Cornwallis marched into the kingdom of Mysore, 
and laid siege to Bangalore, built by Hyder Ali. The town was 
stormed, and taken after a dreadful conflict in the streets. Tippoo 
Saib now retreated towards his capital, and was followed by Lord Corn- 
wallis, who captured several fortresses. The English suffered much 



INDIA. 



523 




Elej-ihants trampling criminals to death. 



from want of provisions, but at length received supplies and reinforce- 
ments. Lord Cornwallis then advanced toward Seringapatam, en- 
countered the enemy, and, after an obstinate and bloody struggle, 
defeated them. Tippoo Saib now sued for peace, and it "was granted 
by the English on very advantageous terms, as far as they were con- 
cerned. Great additions were made to the territories of the victors ; 
but, in 1799, in spite of the treaty, Tippoo Saib again appeared in 
arms. After a few indecisive actions, the British once more appeared 
at Seringapatam, and the sultan and his followers met them bravely. 
The siege lasted a month, when Tippoo Saib being slain while leading 
on his men, the city was easily captured, and thus the whole of his 
territories fell to the English. 

After the establishment of the British supremacy in India, the 
governors-general fixed their capital at Calcutta. There they main- 
tained the magnificent state of sovereign princes. The marquis of 
Hastings was the most celebrated of these governors. He exercised 
the vice-regal authority from 1813 until 1823, during which time he 



524 



INDIA. 




Death ol' Tippoo Saib. 



did much for the benefit of the native popuhition by promoting educa- 
tion, projecting and executing many useful works, and suppressing the 
predatory hordes of Pindarries and Ghoorkas. In the war against 
these powerful nations, the British were at first unsuccessful on account 
of the want of skill in their commanders ; but in the end the robbers 
were almost exterminated. The most persevering enemies of the 
British were the Brahmins, who opposed tliem because they destroyed 
the influence of the Hindoo superstitions, and weakened the power of 
the priests. Several insurrections broke out, headed by the Brahmins, 
but they were easil}^ crushed. Under the administration of Lord Am- 
herst, the British waged war against the Burmese, and acquired a 
large addition of territory. Lord William Bentinck, the successor of 
Amherst, suppressed the secret society of assassins called the Thugs, 
who had existed for twenty years, and by their robberies and murders 
spread terror through the country. About the same time, the Hindoo 



INDIA. 525 

rite of suttee, or the burning of widows with the bodies of their deceased 
husbands, was abolished throughout the British territories. In 1833, 
the charter of the East India Company expired, and that body was 
deprived of all its exclusive trading privileges. 

During Lord Auckland's governor-generalship, occurred the long 
and bloody war with the Afghans. The death of Runjeet Singh, 
monarch of the Sikhs, had deprived the British of a powerful ally, 
and thrown his kingdom into confusion. In the fall of 1841, while 
General Elphinstone was in command of the British army in Cabul, 
the insurrection of the people commenced, under the lead of Akbar 
Khan. Several of the British were treacherously shot while treating 
for peace, and the British army then commenced a most disastrous 
retreat from Cabul. The barbarians pursued, and plundered and cut 
off many soldiers and others from the army. But the result of the 
war was the triumph of the British under Generals Pollock and Nott. 
Akbar Khan was entirely defeated, many of his followers slain, and 
all of the British and their allies who had been captured recovered. 
Cabul and the whole of the neighbouring country fell into the hands 
of the Europeans, and continued to be part of their already vast 
possessions. The native monarch, however, was placed upon the 
throne. 

The Afghan war was followed by more important events. The 
principal of these to be recorded are the conquest of Scinde, the revo- 
lution in the Punjaub, and the victories which brought that state com- 
pletely under the control of the British government. 

A dispute occurring between the English and the Ameers of the 
Scinde, relative to the free navigation of the Indus and other matters. 
Sir Charles Napier marched into their country to compel them to fulfil 
their engagements. " A long and bloody battle was fought, and the 
Ameers entirely defeated. The Scinde was soon after annexed to the 
British territories. Slavery was abolished in it, and the Indus was 
opened to all nations. It now remains to speak of the affairs of 
Gwalior. A dispute occurred in that country in regard to the succes- 
sion to the throne, and the British interfered so as to direct it in a 
manner favourable to their interests. Towards the close of 1843, the 
governoi'-general sent a powerful army into Gwalior, which, under the 
command of Sir Henry Gough and General Grey, gained two splendid 
victories, took the strong fort of Gwalior, and secured the country 
for the British. Since that time, the greater part of India has been 
tranquil. Under the British rule, the Hindoos are much improved in 
condition, and are beginning to throw aside many of their horrid 
superstitions and absurd customs. 




An ancient Briton. 



ENGLAND, TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF 
HENRY III. 

g[^^HE Romans, as we have already seen, in- 
vaded England, then called Britannia, 
under Julius Caesar, (b. c. 55,) and con- 
quered it under Claudius. They retained 
it till A. D. 426, ^Yhen the civil wars of the 
empire recalled the last of them to Italy, 
|f^ and England was ra-vaged hy the ancient 
!'icts and Scots. The Britons asked aid 
from two tribes of Germany, the Saxons 
and Angles. They went over to Britain 
A. D. 440, and drove back the Scots ; but, instead of returning to 
Germany, they took possession of the country, which Avas afterward 
divided into seven small kingdoms called the Saxon lieptarcliy. The 
Britons partly retired into Wales, (where their descendants still re- 
main,) and partly emigrated to Armorica in France, which afterward 
took the name of Bretagne, or Brittany. 

The priests of the ancient Britons were Druids, whose religious and 
political system has been grossly misrepresented by most historians. 
A late writer* has shown from authentic records of the Druids, still 




* Mr. Wilkes. 



526 



ENGLAND. 



527 




preserved in Wales, that their morality was elevated, their religious 
views greatly superior to those of the Romans, and their political 
system essentially republican, and far superior to any which has ever 
been enjoyed since their time in Britain, 

Egbert united the seven kingdoms of the heptarchy into one in 
A. D. 827 ; he was the first king of England. During his reign, and 
for a long period afterward, the Northmen or Normans, called by the 
English Danes, made frequent descents upon the English coasts and 




Alfred. 



528 



ENGLAND. 




Alfred and his mother. 



committed great ravages. King Alfred the Great, who reigned from 
871 to 901, was indebted, as many other great men have been, to the 
early instruction of his mother for much of his eminence ; she stimu- 
lated his ambition for greatness by referring to the arms and deeds 
of his ancestors. 

In Alfred's first encounter with the Danes they were discomfited, 
and became bound never to return to the kingdom. But oaths could 
not bind men who had never submitted to laws ; they soon renewed 
their depredations, and Alfred was again under the necessity of 
opposing their ravages. In one year he fought eight battles against 
them, and, having reduced them to the utmost extremity, he made 
them an offer of a settlement in England, if they would defend it 
against the incursions of future invaders ; but, while deliberating con- 
cerning it, being reinforced by new bodies of their countrymen, they 
proceeded to exercise their usual depredations. 

The couraGie of the English sank under this new misfortune ; and 
in their distress many abandoned their country, and others submitted 
to servitude. The king, finding himself without troops and without 
hope, dismissed his attendants, and, in the disguise of a peasant, 
concealed himself in the house of a neatherd, whose wife exacted his 
assistance in her domestic affairs. Finding an opportunity to collect 
a number of his partisans, he retired to an inaccessible morass in the 
county of Somerset, and erected a fortification. From these he made 
frequent and unexpected sallies upon the barbarians, who felt the 



ENGLAND. 529 



v^. 



■ill: 





King Alfred in the neatherd's house. 



vigour of his arm, but knew not from what quarter they received the 
blow. 

The news that the earl of Devonshire had obtained a victory over 
the enemy, and had even got possession of their enchanted standard, 
drew this hero from his retreat ; and, in order to assure himself of the 
probability of sucdess, he entered the camp of the enemy in the dis- 
guise of a harper. He was introduced into the tent of their prince, 
Guthrum, where he remained several days. Observing their negli- 
gence and supine security, he returned to his followers with the hopes 
of a certain victory. 

Emissaries being despatched, the soldiers flocked to his standard, 
and the enemy was surprised and routed. The fugitives he besieged 
in a fortified town, to which they had retired. The Danes, oppressed 
by famine, submitted to the victor. The conditions of Alfred were 
accepted, one of which was that they should embrace the doctrines of 
Christianity; and the kingdom was not for many years infested with 
the ravages of the Danes. ^ 

This interval of tranquillity he employed in restoring order to the 
state, and in establishing salutary institutions. His. prudence suggest- 
ed to him the most proper expedient for uniting the English and the 
Danes. He governed them by equal laws, and made no difference 
between them in the administration of civil or criminal justice. The 
cities which had been desolated were repaired ; and that of London 
in particular, which became the capital of the kingdom. A regular 

34 



530 



ENGLAND. 




Eing Alfred disguised as a harper m the Eianish camp. 

and formidable militia was judiciously stationed throiigliout the coun- 
try for the national defence. But of all his establishments, the most 
useful were his naval j^reparations ; a lumdrcd and thirty vessels of 
war, stationed along the coast, kept at defiance those fleets of pirates 
which had before invaded the island. 

A hundred years after Alfred's death, the Normans, or Danes, again 
invaded England, and were completely victorious ; so that in the 
period from 101(3 to 1042 three Danish kings governed the country 
in succession, (Swen, Canute, and Hardicanute.) In 1042, the 
Normans, or Danes, were driven out of England, and another Saxon 
king, Edward II., surnamed the Confessor, was placed upon the 
throne. Meantime, the Normans had gained a footing in France, 
and possessed a province called Normandy. William, duke of Nor- 
maiulj', who was related to King Edward, made claim to the English 
thrOTie, and after EdAvard's death, which occurred in 10(36, he in- 
vaded England at the head of sixty thousand men, defeated his rival 
Harold, and became king of England. This is the redoubtable William 
the Conqueror, the ancestor of the present royal family of Great Bri- 
tain. Harold was the son of Count Godwin ; for Edward the Con- 
fessor left no children. After the battle of Hastings, in which Harold 
fell, his body was found on the field, an arrow piercing the forehead. 
Thus terminated the Anglo-Saxon dynasty in England. 



ENGLAND. 



531 




Brittle of Hastings. 

William the Conqueror was crowned at Westminster Abbey, and 
took the usual oaths. lie rewarded his adherents by distributing es- 
tates among them, erected fortresses to secure his conquests, and con- 
ferred all civil and ecclesiastical offices on his own countrymen, the 
Norman French. He then revisited Normandy. A rebellion which 
broke out in his absence furnished occasion for treating his English 
subjects with still greater severity on his return. 




Death of Harold. 



532 



ENGLAND. 




Accession cf William, the Conqueror. 



After robbing the English of their wealth, he attempted to abolish 
their language. He ordered French to be the language in all the 
schools, and to be employed in all acts, contracts, deeds, and courts 
of justice. Hence arose the peculiar mixed character of the English 
language. 

No station, however elevated, is secure against misfortune; and 
William found in his own family a source of inquietude. He had 
three sons, Robert, William, and Henry, besides several daughters ; 
and he had settled the succession of Normandy on Robert, his eldest 
son, Avho, impatient of all restraint, demanded immediate possession 
of his heritage ; and, on his father's refusal, Robert withdrew to Nor- 
mandy, and broke out into open rebellion. After several years of 
animosity had passed, the king transported an English army into Nor- 
mandy, to bring his son back to his allegiance. The interposition of 
the queen and the submission of Robert produced, at length, a recon- 
ciliation. 

In one of the battles between the forces of William and his son 
Robert, the latter happened to engage the king, whose face was con- 
cealed by his helmet, and both of them being valiant, a fierce combat 
ensued, till the young prince wounded his father in the arm, and un- 
horsed him. On his calling out for assistance, his voice discovered 
him to his son, who, struck with remorse, threw himself at his father's 



ENGLAND. 



533 



<» ~v-i >^ 







WilliaiXL the Conqueror -wounded by his son Robert. 

feet, and craved pardon for his offence ; but William, who was highly 
exasperated, gave him his malediction. He was, however, afterward 
reconciled to him, and on his return to England Robert was suc- 
cessfully employed in retaliating an invasion of Malcolm, king of 
Scotland. 

William the Conqueror died in 1087, and was succeeded by his son 



^//>f/iW 




Death of William Rufus. 



534 



ENGLAND. 




William Rufus wiirued ly the ixionk. 



William II., called Rufus, on account of his red hair. His elder bro- 
ther, Robert, received the dukedom of Normandy for his inheritance, 
and Henry, the third son, a portion of his father's treasures. Robert 
pledged his dukedom to William for ten thousand marks, to bear his 
expenses on a crusade to the Holy Land. William was killed while 

hunting; in the New Forest, which his father had formed into a hunt- 
ed ■' 

ing-ground by devastating twenty English towns and villages. The 
clergy of those times pointed to this as a retribution, and they had a 
tradition that William, who was a very irreligious man, was met on his 
way to the forest, and warned of his fate by a monk. 

His successor was Henry I., his younger brother, who availed him- 
self of Robert's absence in the Holy Land to ascend the throne. He 
married a niece of Edgar Atheling, and thus acquired the Saxon 
claim. On Robert's return, Henry offered ' him a sum of money and 
the succession, in case he should die without issue. He afterward 
Avas cheated of his Norman possessions, and imprisoned by Henry. 

But a domestic calamity, about this time, threw a cloud over Hen- 
ry's prosperity. His only son, William, Avho had been recognised as 
his successor to the English throne, he had carried over to Normandy, 
to receive the homage of the states. On his return to England, the 
vessel in which Henry had embarked was soon carried by a fiiir wind 



ENGLAND. 



535 




Death of Prince "William. 



out of sight of land. The prince was detained by some accident, and 
the sailors, having spent the interval in drinking, were unable to ma- 
nage the vessel, and she foundered upon a rock. The prince, in this 
extremity, had recourse to the long boat, and had got clear of the 
ship, when, hearing the cries of the countess of Perche, his natural 
sister, he ordered the seamen to row back and take her in. Numbers 
crowded into the boat, and the whole went down. A hundred and 
forty young noblemen of the principal families in England and Nor- 
mandy perished on this occasion. 

Henry I, being now without any legitimate male issue, he was in- 
duced to marry, in the hope of having a successor. But Adelais, his 
second queen, brought him no children. His legal heir was his daugh- 
ter Matilda, the widow of the emperor Henry V., who afterward was 
married to Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, by whom she had 
several children. 

The last years of Henry's reign were distinguished by a profound 
tranquillity. In preparing to return from Normandy, whither he had 
gone to visit his daughter Matilda, he was seized with a violent illness ; 
and finding it necessary to make his will, he named Matilda heiress to 
all his dominions. 

England lost this brave and able monarch in the sixty-seventh year 
of his age, and after a reign of thirty-four years, (a. d. 1135.) If his 
conduct towards his brother and his nephew throws a stain upon his 



536 



ENOLAND. 




Stephen imprisoned. 



memory, he might be said in some degree to have atoned for it by the 
vigour and wisdom of his administration. Henry was fond of litera- 
ture ; on this account he acquired the name of Beau Clerc, or the 
Schohar. During his reign, London obtained a charter, which is con- 
sidered as the foundation of its privileges. 

The barons chose Stephen, count of Blois, nephew to the ting, to 
succeed him. The greater part of his reign Avas spent in wars re- 
specting the succession between him and Matilda, the rightful heir. 
At one time Stephen was dethroned, while Matilda was acknowledged 
queen, and crowned at Winchester. 

The imperious spirit of the queen soon disgusted her turbulent sub- 
jects. The Londoners entered into conspiracy to seize her person : 
she fled to Winchester, where she was besieged and reduced to great 
extremities. She, however, found means to escape, but the earl of 
Gloucester fell into the hands of the enemy. lie was exchanged for 
Stcplien, who had continued a captive. The death of this brave 
nobleman, vvhich happened soon after, gave a mortal wound to the in- 
terests of his party ; and Stephen was again placed on the throne. 

Matilda was now a suppliant on behalf of her son Henry, and after 
various other vicissitudes, it was finally agreed that Stephen should 
possess the crown during his life, and that Henry should succeed him, 
which he did in 1155, under the title of Henry II., a famous person- 
age in English history. In his time arose the famous Thomas it 
Becket, a sort of English Ilildebrand, who disputed with the king for 
the privileges of the clergy. 

To determine these matters, the king summoned a general council 
of the nobility and clergy at Clarendon, by whose concurrence might 



ENGLAND. 



537 




Matilda tefore King Stephen. 



be ascertained the proper limits of the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
tions. And it was there enacted, that ecclesiastics accused of anj 
crime should be tried in the civil courts ; that no appeals from sen- 
tences pronounced in England should be made to the pope ; that all 
matters regarding the revenues of the church should be decided by the 
king's judges, &c. These enactments got the name, from the place 
where they were formed, of the Constitutions of Clarendon. These, 
with others, to the number of sixteen, Avere subscribed to by all the 
bishops present ; and Becket himself, after a vigorous resistance, set 
his seal to the number. But Pope Alexander IIL, to whom they were 
sent, condemned and annulled them, as incompatible with the rights 
of the church. 

After the abrogation of the pope, Becket expressed the deepest 
sorrow for having given the laws his sanction. This inflamed the 
haughty and violent disposition of Henry II. to an unjustifiable ex- 
tremity. He ordered Becket to be tried on a frivolous pretence, and 
then confiscated his wealth. The archbishop, pushed to extremity, 
exerted the vigour of an inflexible mind. He presented himself at 
court, with the cross in his hands, and arrayed in his sacred vestments, 
in order to intimidate the king ; and he appealed to the supreme pon- 
tifi" against the sentence pronounced against him. He soon after found 
means to leave the kingdom. 

Unfortunately, the obstinacy of Becket was equal to the stateli- 
ness of Henry. A compromise was at last suggested which the king 
hoped would secure a lasting peace; but he deceived himself; for 



538 



ENGLAND. 




Becket presenting himself to the king. 

Becket had scarcely set foot in England, when he issued new cen- 
sures against the archbishop of York, who had crowned Henry's son 
in his absence ; and he excommunicated the bishops of London and 
Salisbury, besides committing other acts equally arbitrary. 

The king was informed of these violent measures at Bayeux, in 
Normandy. " What !" cried he, " will no one rid me of this ungrate- 
ful and imperious prelate ?" This passionate exclamation was a suffi- 




Death "of Thomas a Becket. 



ENGLAND. 



539 




Penance of Heni-y IT. 

cient hint for his courtiers. Four gentlemen secretly withdrew from 
court, and proceeded to Canterbury. During the time of vespers, as 
soon as the primate reached the altar, they fell on him. Becket thus 
became a victim to his intrepid and inflexible spirit, in a cause in 
■which he Avas guided by the most destructive prejudices. 

On receiving the news of this catastrophe, the king was seized with 
despair, and refused all nourishment for three days. He despatched 
eight persons to Rome, to clear him of all suspicion of concern in it, 
and performed penance to avert from him the thunders of the Vatican. 
The assassinated archbishop passed for a saint and a martyr ; pil- 
grimages were undertaken to his tomb from all parts, and miracles 
were supposed to be performed by his relics. 




Pilgrims gomg to Becket's tomb. 



540 



ENGLAND. 




Fair RosaixioDcL and the Queen. 



When Becket's turbulent career was over, it might have been sup- 
posed that Henry would enjoy greater peace ; but, on the contrary, 
his life was a constant struggle with the barons, the church, and his 
own family. His supposed agency in Becket's death raised up so many 
enemies, that he was obliged to give up any attempt to reform the 
clergy ; and they remained even more powerful at the close of his 
reign than at the beginning. 

And in his own family his sorrows were many ; not undeserved — 
since he had chosen to take for his queen a woman of very bad 
character, merely for ambition's sake ; and then, when he found him- 
self unhappy, he sought the company of other women. 

There was a very beautiful girl called Rosamond, whom King Henry 
loved extremely, and, because he dreaded lest the queen should ill- 
treat her if she found out his attachment, he concealed her in a laby- 
rinth in Woodstock Park. 

And, as stories say, the queen, after some time, discovered the 
secret of this labyrinth, and found her way quite into fair Rosamond's 
presence ; and there this cruel queen held out a bowl of poison to 
Rosamond, and obliged her to drink, while she held a dagger to her 
breast. 

Of Henry's four sons, Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John, each in 
his turn rebelled against him, and some of them made open war upon 
him. He died at Chinon, in Normandy, A. D. 1189. 



ENGLAND. 



541 




Richard I. at Ascalon. 



His successor, Richard I., is chiefly celebrated for his actions in 
Palestine, and particularly for his defeat of Saladin at the battle of 
Ascalon. Under the head of the Crusades he has already been noticed. 
During his absence in the Holy Land, his brother John attempted to 
usurp the government, and carried matters with a pretty high hand. 

Richard's imprisonment in Austria, on his way home from Palestine, 
delayed his return for a long time, but at length he was ransomed for 
three hundred thousand pounds : and the moment the king was at 
liberty, he set out, and travelled rapidly day and night till he came 
to the seaside, where he met with a vessel, in which he embarked 
directly for England. It was fortunate that he did so, for the duke of 
Austria repented of having let him go so easily, and sent men in 
pursuit of him ; but, happily, they only arrived in time to see his little 
vessel at a distance making all sail for England. 

The best part of Richard's conduct remains to be told. On reaching 
England, he learned all that had passed in his absence, and particu- 
larly the treachery of his brother John, which at first made him very 
angry; but when John humbled himself and submitted, he forgave 
him freely, only saying, " I wish I could as easily forget your offences 
as you will my pardon." 

From this time, John served him better. Richard's reign, however. 



542 



ENGLAND. 




Richard I. pai'domiig his broth>jr Joan. 



did not last long. He was too turbulent and -warlike to have much 
rest either for liis body or mind, and he died in the year 1199, of a 
wound received while besieging a castle in Normandy called Chaluz. 

Richard was succeeded by his brother John. There was, however, 
another elder brother, Geoffrey, but he had long been dead ; yet he 
had left one son called Arthur, who was just twelve years old when 
his uncle Richard died. He was the true heir to the crown, and had 
been destined by Richard to be his successor ; but, in the last years 
of his life, John had been named heir to the crown. 

And as John was a man, and Arthur but a child, and as the uncle 
managed to get the nephew into his possession after a battle fought 
in France in his behalf, this young prince had but a poor chance ; 
and, indeed, ver}^ soon after the battle he disappeared, and it was said 
that his uncle murdered him. 

The kings of England were also dukes of Normandy, from the time 
of William the Conqueror till the reign of John ; but he, by his bad 



ENGLAND. 



543 




Prince Arthur a prisoner, 

management and sloth, gave the king of France an opportunity of 
seizing by far the greatest part of Normandy ; and thus John got the 
name of Lack-land. 

After losing Normandy, John quarrelled -with the pope on the 




Murder of Frince Arthur. 



544 



ENGLAND. 




subject of ecclesiastical appointments, had his kingdom laid under an 
interdict, and ^^'as finally compelled to make a most abject submission 
to the holy see. 

John was next engaged in a quarrel with his barons. The charter 
passed by Henry I. and confirmed by Stephen, had flattered the 
people, but had long remained unexecuted. The barons, under the 
influence of the primate Langton, insisted on the renewal and obser- 
vance of it. When they read over the articles, John burst into a furi- 
ous passion, and asked, "Why they did not also demand from him his 
crown ?" He swore he would not grant it to them. The malcontent 
barons then entered into a confederacy, and chose Robert Fitzwalter 
for their general, under the title of " The Marischal of the army of 
God and of the holy church." They issued a proclamation, requiring 
the other nobles to join them, and advanced towards London, which 
they entered without opposition. 

Abandoned by his subjects, John found himself constrained to sub- 
mit at discretion. A conference was accordingly appointed. The 
ground where this most important treaty took place was at Runni- 
mede, between Staines and Windsor, where John was compelled to 
sign the famous bulwark of English liberty, the Magna Charta. This 
deed either granted or secured freedom and numerous privileges to 



ENGLAND. 



545 




King Jolan granting a charter to tlie city of London. 



the higher orders ; but as for the lower classes, they had very little 
participation of legal protection. 

John subsequently refused to execute the charter, and a civil war 
was the consequence, which was only terminated by the king's death, 
in 1216. During his reign, he granted a charter to the city of London, 
which confirmed their right of electing a mayor annually. 

Henry III., John's son, was only nine years old when he became 
king. He had a wise guardian and counsellor in the earl of Pembroke, 
but when he came to man's estate he cast off his best friends, and 
preferred weak favourites, who knew not how to advise him for the 
best. 

Henry had signed the great charter as soon as he was old enough 
to understand its meaning ; but he never entered into the spirit of it, 
and was constantly trying to break through the barrier it imposed 
upon him. 

He had, in short, so repeatedly broken his promises to the barons, 
that they determined on bringing him to renew them, in a more 
solemn manner, in the presence of the bishops and abbots. They 
therefore assembled in full armour in Westminster Hall, and the great 
charter was read. 

After the charter was read, a solemn sentence of excommunication 
against any who should break it followed ; and when this sentence 
was pronounced, all the prelates, who had burning tapers in their 
hands, cast them down on the ground, exclaiming, " So may all that 
incur this sentence be extinguished in hell ;" and the king added, " So 

35 



546 



ENGLAND. 



help me God, I will keep these things, as I am a man : as I am a 
Christian : as I am a knight : as I am a king, crowned and anointed." 
It was in this reign that a parliament was summoned, comprising 
not only knights of the shires, but citizens and burgesses also. This 
was the beginning of the House of Commons. Henry the Third 
reigned fifty-six years. At his death, he was buried in Westminster 
Abbey, where a very fine monument to his memory is to be seen. 




Ifi L ly III 1 1 Ui'ing the armed parliament. 




Caractacus. 




WALES. 

T is probable, says an authentic historian, that 
Britain was first colonized by the Celtte of 
Gaul, at least a thousand years before the 
birth of our Saviour ; a period of time coeval 
■vNuth the reigns of David and Solomon. The 
names of Albion and of Britain are supposed 
to have been given to the island by the Belgic 
Gauls, who inhabited the opposite shores. 
The language of the ancient Britons was simi- 
lar to that of their probable ancestors. When 
Julius Caesar invaded Britain, (55 b. c.,) Cambria, or Wales, was in- 
habited by three different tribes of Britons, namely, the Silures, the 
Dimetse, and the Ordovices, who were governed by a number of petty 
princes, sovereign and independent. Caractacus, their prince, having, 
Avith variety of fortunes, opposed the Roman arms for nine years, was 
at length obliged to retire among the Silures, who were defeated by 
the Romans. He was afterward betrayed to his enemies, and led 
prisoner to Rome, where his heroic composure and magnanimity in 
the presence of the emperor Claudius led to the restoration of his 
liberty, (a. d. 52.) Suetonius, the general of Nero, destroyed Mona, 
the centre of the druidical superstition. However, the Romans did not 
penetrate far into the interior of the country. Caswallon, a prince of 
Cambria, in 443, made choice of Mona for his residence ; and from 
this era we may fix the date of a distinct sovereignty in North Wales. 
When the Saxons invaded Britain, after a severe struggle, the in- 
habitants pressed on every side by advancing enemies, and weakened 

547 



548 



WALES. 




Caraotaous before Claudius. 



by incessant wars, "were at lengtli obliged to retire before the Saxon 
arms, and they fled to the mountains of Cambria ; which country about 
this period took the name of Wales. In 58C, the Saxons again en- 
deavoured to penetrate into Wales ; but the Welsh encountered them 
with great bravery, and entirely defeated their purpose. 

The Welsh were light and active, and more fierce than strong ; from 
the lowest to the highest of the people they were devoted to arms, 
which the ploughman as well as the courtier was prepared to seize on 
the first summons. The chief sustenance of this people was cattle and 
oats, besides milk, cheese, and butter. They were accustomed to walk 
with their feet bare ;. or, instead of shoes, they used boots of raw leather. 
They were not given to excess either in eating or drinking, nor expen- 
sive richness in their clothes. Their whole attention was occupied in 
the splendid appearance of their horses and arms, in the defence of 
their country, and in the care of their plunder. Accustomed to fast 
from morning till night, their minds were wholly employed on their 
business. There was not a beggar to be seen among these people, for 
the tables of all Avere common to all ; and with them, bounty, and 
particularly hospitable entertainment, were in higher estimation than 
any of the other virtues. 

The successors of William the Conqueror made repeated attempts 
to conquer Wales ; but this was not effected till the reign of Edward I. 



WALES. 



549 




Death, of Llewtllyn. 

It was a difficult task ; for the Welsh well knew the nature of their 
own country, and took advantage of the shelter of their lofty moun- 
tains, which at that time were covered with woods, where they could 
lie in ambush, and attack a whole army to the greatest advantage. 

And the war might have been carried on for a length of time thus, 
if a treacherous Welshman had not betrayed Prince Llewellyn, and 
brought on a battle in which he was slain. 

Then the Welsh fled in confusion, or threw down their arms, or were 
put to the sword ; for Edward, though he had many fine qualities, was 
a merciless conqueror : and the strife ended by his dividing the coun- 
try into counties, and placing sheriffs in each, as was the custom in 
England, and also by Edward's calling his eldest son, who was born at 
Carnarvon, Prince of Wales. From this time the Welsh have had no 
more princes of their own race ; but the eldest son of the king of Eng- 
land is always called Prince of Wales. 

The bards, were, of course, deeply grieved at this change in the 
government of their country, and they long mourned over it in their 
songs ; but they were obliged to be cautious where or how they 
uttered their sentiments, as the English were always on the watch 
against them, and it is said that many of them were murdered on account 
of their bitter and scornful remarks on the conquerors. King Ed- 
ward cut down a great many of the woods on the mountains and in the 
valleys of Wales, that there might be no place of shelter for rebels. 




Galtracus. 



SCOTLAND. 




jNDER the head of English history, a great 
part of the history of Scothmd is comprehend- 
ed. But we interpohite here a short notice of 
certain portions of Scottish history before pro- 
ceeding -with our collections of English history, 
because the intimate connection of English and 
■*®si^^i^^S^^^^^^ Scottish aflfairs commences under the reign of 
Edward L, who is the next English monarch we shall notice. 

The Caledonians are supposed to have been the ancient inhabitants 
of Scotland. At the time the Romans occupied Britain, it was 
governed by a race of brave and wise princes. Galdus, or Galgacus, 
in A. D. 79, resisted the Romans, who were never able to subdue the 
country. The Scots, who were probably from Scythia, occupied the 
hills to the north; and the Picts occupied the southern part, and were 
men of the plains. Its early history is involved in much uncertainty; 

550 



SCOTLAND. 



551 




Death of ilacbetli. 



but in the fifth century, both Fergus and Dongard are said to have 
reigned, and the Scots were represented as a powerful nation. 

About the middle of the ninth century, Kenneth MacAlpinus finally 
subdued the Picts, and united the Picts and Scots under one monar- 
chy; the kingdom was afterward known by the name of Scotland. 
Its authentic history commences at the reign of Duncan, 1033, a 
prince distinguished for his virtues. He was treacherously murdered 
by Macbeth, who usurped the throne. The usurper was killed in 
battle, and Malcolm Canmore the Third, the son of Duncan, succeed- 
ed, 1057. 

This prince, espousing the cause of Edgar Atheling, heir of the 
Saxon kings of England, whose sister he married, provoked a war 
with William the Conqueror, which was equally prejudicial to both 
kingdoms. In an expedition of Malcolm into England, it is alleged 
that, after concluding a truce, he was compelled by William to do 
homage for his kingdom. The truth is, that this homage was done 
for the territories in Cumberland and Northumberland won by the 
Scots, and held in vassalage of the English crown, though this homage 
was afterward absurdly made the pretext of a claim of feudal sove- 
reignty over all Scotland. In a reign of twenty-seven years, Malcolm 
supported a spirited contest with England, both under William I. and 
his son Rufus ; and to the virtues of his queen Margaret, his king- 



552 



SCOTLAND. 




Eruce killing Corny n. 

clom, in its domestic policy, owed a degree of civilization remarkable 
in those ages of barbarism. 

Alexander I., his son and successor, defended, with equal spirit and 
good policy, the independence of his kingdom ; and his son David I., 
celebrated even by the democratic Buchanan as an honour to his coun- 
try and to monarchy, won from Stephen, and annexed to his crown, 
the whole earldom of Northumberland. In these reigns we hear of 
no claim of the feudal subjection of Scotland to the crown of England, 
though the accidental fortune of war afterward furnished a ground for 
it. William I., taken prisoner at AlnAvick by Henry II., was com- 
pelled, as the price of his release, to do homage for his whole king- 
dom ; an obligation which Richard, the successor of Henry, volunta- 
rily relinquished, as deeming it to have been unjustly extorted. 

On the death of Alexander III. without male issue, in 1285, Bruce* 
and Baliol, descendants of David I. by the female line, Avere compe- 
titors for the crown, and the pretensions of each were supported by a 
formidable party in the kingdom. Edward I. of England, chosen 
umpire of the contest, arrogated to himself, in that character, the 
feudal sovereignty of the kingdom, compelling all the barons to swear 



* The great Robert Bruce, so famous in history, commenced his public career by 
assassinating his rival, Comyn, in a church to which he had invited him for a private 
conference. 



SCOTLAND. 



553 




Sabraissioa of Ealiol. 

j allegiance to him, and taking actual possession of the country by his 
troops. He then adjudged the crown to Baliol, on the express con- 
dition of his swearing fealty to him as lord paramount. Baliol, how- 
ever, soon after renouncing his allegiance, the indignant Edward in- 
vaded Scotland with an immense force, and compelled the weak prince 
to abdicate the throne and resign the kingdom into his hands. 

William Wallace, one of the greatest heroes whom history records, 
restored the fallen honours of his country. Joined by a few patriots, 
his first successes in attackino; the English o;arrisons brought numbers 
to his patriotic standard. Their success was signal and conspicuous ; 
victory followed upon victory; and, while Edward was engaged on 
the continent, his troops were utterly defeated in a desperate engage- 
ment at Stirling, and forced to evacuate the kingdom. Wallace, the 
deliverer of his country, now assumed the title of governor of Scot- 
land ; a distinction which was followed by the envy and disaffection 
of many of the nobles, and the consequent diminution of his array. 

The Scots were defeated at Falkirk. Edward returned with a vast 
accession of force ; and, after a fruitless resistance, the Scottish barons 
finally obtained peace by capitulation, from which the brave Wallace 
was excepted by name. A fugitive for some time, he was betrayed 
into the hands of Edward, who put him to death with every circum- 
stance of ignominy that barbarous revenge could dictate, (a. d. 1304.) 

Scotland found a second champion and deliverer in Robert Bruce, 
the grandson of the competitor with Baliol ; who, deeply resenting 
the humiliation of his country, once more set up the standard of war, 
and bade defiance to the English monarch to whom his father and 
grandfather had meanly sworn allegiance. Under this intrepid leader 



554 



SCOTLAND. 




i.-ai-y, queen of rScots, leaving France for Scotland. 



the spirit of the nation was roused at once; the English -were attacked 
in every quarter, and once more entirely driven out of the kingdom. 
Rohert Bruce was crowned king at Scone, 1306 : and Edward, 
advancing with an immense army, died at Carlisle, 7th July, 1307, 
enjoining it with his last hreath to his son, Edward II., to prosecute 
the war with the Scots to the entire reduction of the country. 

In ohedience to his father's will, Edward invaded Scotland with one 
hundred thousand men. Bruce met this immense force with thirty 
thousand at Bannockburn, and defeated them with prodigious slaugh- 
ter, June 25th, 1314. This important victory secured the independ- 
ence of Scotland, and Edward escaped by sea to his own dominions. 
His successor, Edward III., bent on the conquest of Scotland, marched 
to the north with a prodigious army, vanquished the Scots in the battle 
of Hallidon-hill, and placed Edward Baliol, his vassal and tributary, 
on the throne. But the kingdom was as repugnant as ever to the rule 
of England, and a favourable opportunity was taken for the renewal 
of hostilities on the departure of Edward for a foreign enterprise which 
gave full scope to his ambition. 

The Scots invading England were defeated in the battle of Dur- 
ham by Philippa, the heroic queen of Edward III. ; and their sove- 
reign, David II., was led prisoner to London, where he continued in 
captivity for eleven years. He was ransomed by his subjects, and 



SCOTLAND. 



555 



restored to his kingdom in 1357 ; and he ended a turbulent reign in 
1371. The crown passed at his demise to Robert, the high-steward 
of Scotland, in virtue of a destination made by Robert I., with con- 
sent of the states. The reign of Robert II., which was of twenty 
years' duration, was spent in a series of hostilities between the Scots 
and English, productive of no material results to either kingdom. 

Robert II. was the founder of the famous Stuart family. We pass 
over the reigns of his son Robert III., and a succession of James's 
from I. to v., to come to the unfortunate Mary, queen of Scots, 
daughter of James V. 

Mary was educated in France, and she espoused the dauphin, after- 
ward Francis II. She imprudently assumed the arms and title of 
queen of England, by the persuasion of her maternal uncles, the Guises ; 
and this laid the foundation of all the miseries of the queen of Scots. 
Upon her husband's death, at the age of eighteen, she returned to her 
hereditary kingdom, having fortunately escaped an English fleet which 
Elizabeth had despatched to take her prisoner on her passage. Her 
misfortunes began from that hour. Her Protestant subjects regarded 
their Catholic queen with abhorrence, and looked up to her enemy 
Elizabeth as their defender. 

She was married to Lord Darnley, in whose assassination she was 
charged with taking a part. Her contests with her subjects finally 
drove her to the desperate measure of seeking an asylum in England, 
where she was imprisoned, and finally beheaded by order of Elizabeth 
on a charge of conspiring against her life. Her son, James VL, suc- 
ceeded her, and at the death of Elizabeth he succeeded to the British 
crown, thus uniting England and Scotland, and forming the united 
kingdom of Great Britain. 





ENGLAND, FROM THE REIGN OF EDWARD I. TO 
THAT OF HENRY VII. 




HE most important events in the reign 
of Edward L, viz. his annexation of 
Wales to Enghmd and his wars Avith 
Scotland, have just been noticed. He 
died in 1307, leaving Edward 11. as his 
heir, and charging him to prosecute the 
~* war with Scotland, which he did with 
very unfortunate results, receiving a ter- 
rible defeat from Robert Bruce at Ban- 
nockburn. Edward II. was a weak and 
effeminate prince, governed by unprin- 
cipled favourites, which occasioned his imprisonment and assassination 
by the nobles, (1327.) His son, Edward III., was a very different 
character. At the age of seventeen he displaced the minions of his 
mother, an infamous woman, and took the government into his own 
hands, overran Scotland, and placed Baliol on its throne. 
. About 1339, Edward turned his arms against France. The first 
preparation for this campaign led to nothing decisive. The year 
following, the naval engagement off Sluys Avas disastrous to France. 
Philip's fleet, which was composed of four hundred sail, manned with 
forty thousand men, was stationed there with a view of intercepting the 
king of England. The English fleet was much inferior in the number 
of ships, but they conquered. The French had thirty thousand of their 
seamen and two of their admirals slain ; and more than half of their 
ships of war were taken. 

Edward thus opened for himself a way into France, with a hundred 

556 



ENGLAND. 



557 




Great naval victory off Sluys. 



thousand men, where he first laid siege to Tournay ; and he sent a 
herald to Philip, challenging him to single combat. Philip wisely 
declined the combat. The countess of Ilainault, their common rela- 
tion, though she had taken the vows in a convent, yet left her retreat 
to inspire them with pacific sentiments. Her zeal produced a cessa- 
tion of hostilities. This truce the pope in vain endeavoured to convert 
into a peace. 

Intestine commotions which had taken place in Brittany induced 
Edward to recommence hostilities against France. He made a descent 
into Normandy, (1846,) took several towns, and carried his ravages to 
the gates of Paris. Pressed by Philip, who had collected a great army, 
Edward was desirous of retiring to Flanders, but the bridges of the 
Somme were either broken down or strongly guarded. In this con- 
dition a peasant saved him and his army, by pointing out to him a 
ford. He gained an eminence near the village of Crecy, ranged his 
army in order of battle, and prepared for an action which he could 
not avoid. Philip, with an army four times more numerous than that 
of Edward, was impatient to take revenge of the English. He gave 
orders to marshal his troops, but the vivacity of the French nobility 
rendered it impracticable : one division drove upon another, without 
order, thinking itself secure of victory while rushing to certain de- 
struction. 



558 



ENGLAND. 




Queen Ihilippa interceding for the burgesses of Calais. 

Edward communicated to his troops the courage with wliich he him- 
self "was inspired. Fifteen thousand crossbowmen, the vanguard of 
the French army, yiehied on the first charge of the English archers. 
Their rout threw the French cavalry into confusion. The Prince of 
Wales* attacked these, and sustained, with prodigious valour, a hot 
and furious engagement ; nothing was seen among the French troops 
but hurry, terror, and dismny. There was no longer any equality in 
the action. The count Alencon, the French king's brother, the kings 
of Bohemia and Majorca, an immense number of princes and great 
barons, one thousand tv,'o hundred knights, four thousand men-at-arms, 
besides about thirty thousand men of inferior rank, perished in the 
field of battle ; while the English lost only one squire, three knights, 
and a few inferior combatants. 

Edward now invested Calais, with a view in future to secure an easy 
entrance into France. The siege lasted nearly a twelvemonth. At 
length the necessities of the garrison induced the governor to capitu- 
late. The patriotism of Eustace de St. Pierre and five other burgesses 
of Calais, on this occasion, merits the highest encomiums. The king 
was only prevented from hanging them for their defence of the town 
by the intercession of Queen Philippa. The inhabitants were expelled, 
the town was peopled with English, and a truce between Edward and 
Philip was concluded. 

In the year 1346, the Scots, headed by David Bruce, their king, 
invaded the frontiers; and as Edward was then on the continent, 
Philippa, his queen, prepared to repulse the enemy in person ; and 



* Commonly known by the appellation of the Black Prince. 



ENGLAND. 



559 




King John entertained by the Llack Prince. 



having made Lord Percy general, met the Scots at Nevil's Cross, near 
Durham. Bruce and his array were routed, fifteen thousand of his 
men cut to pieces, and himself and many of his nobles and knights 
taken prisoners and carried in triumph to London. 

The year following, (a. d. 1347,) the Black Prince, with- an army 
of twelve thousa.nd men, extended his ravages as far as Berry ; when, 
on his return, he was met near Poictiers by King John, with sixty 
thousand men. It seemed impossible that the English could escape ; 
and the Prince of Wales offered to abandon his conquest, and to sign 
a truce for seven years ; but John would not comply with his request, 
insisting on his surrendering himself a prisoner. His reply to John 
was that of a hero. The English prepared for an engagement. The 
impatience of the French and their blind confidence of success pre- 
cipitated them into danger. Their first line was thrown into confusion 
by a body of English archers ; and the Prince of Wales, following up 
these advantages, attacked and discomfited it. The sudden flight of 



560 



ENGLAND. 




Deatii of Wat Tyler. 



the dauphin added to the confusion and terror of the French army. 
John found himself suddenly surrounded with the enemy, and was 
forced to surrender himself a prisoner. The generosity of the Black 
Prince to his captive has been much eulogized. A two years' truce 
was concluded with France, and the captive king being conducted to 
England, Edward received him with the same courtesy as if he had 
been a neighbouring potentate come to pay him a friendly visit. 

It was in this reign (a. d. 1349) that the Order of the Garter was in- 
stituted. It is said to have owed its origin to the love which Edward 
bore to the countess of Salisbury. At a court ball, this lady happen- 
ing to drop her garter, the king took it up ; and observing some of 
the courtiers smile, he presented it to her with these words, " Iloni 
soit qui tnaly iiensc,"' " Evil be to him that evil thinks." These words 
became the device of the order. The order was to consist of twenty- 
four persons besides the king. 

In a little time the zeal and valour of the French in general pro- 



ENGLAND. 



663 




Eeturn of Richard II. frora Ireland. 



duced an important revolution ; and of the many provinces that the 
English possessed, they retained only Bourdeaux, Bayonne, and Calais, 
when the necessities of Edward compelled him to conclude a truce. 
The Black Prince soon after died ; and Edward himself died in 1377. 

Edward's grandson, Richard II., succeeded to the throne at the age 
of eleven years. He appears to have been spoiled by flatterers. The 
public treasury was plundered by his courtiers. Heavy taxes were 
laid on the people, who rebelled under a popular leader, Wat Tyler, 
who was killed by Walworth, lord mayor of London. Richard showed 
much presence of mind on this occasion by haranguing Wat's followers, 
and offering to be their leader, an act which led to the suppression of 
the rebellion. Subjects of discontent, however, still remained against 
the king and his government, and these rose to their greatest height 
while Richard was absent in Ireland; so that on his return he found 
his subjects arrayed against him under the direction of Henry of Lan- 
caster, whom he had banished rather capriciously from the kingdom 
some time before. 

Richard, in fact, soon after his landing, found himself a prisoner in 
the hands of his enemy, who conducted him to London, and directly 
after compelled him to make a formal relinquishment of the crown to 
himself. Richard was then imprisoned, and finally assassinated. He 
was the last of the house of Plantagenet, and with his successor, 
Henry IV., commences the house of Lancaster, which ended with 
Henry VI. 

The reign of Henry IV. was signalized by the enacting of laws for 
punishing heretics in religion, and by the rebellion of a portion of his 



564 



ENGLAND. 




Deposition of Richard IL 

subjects under the earl of Northumberland and Glendower. In a battle 
in which the rebels were defeated, the young Harry Hotspur, son of 
the earl, is said to have fallen by the hand of the Prince of Wales. 
The prince was dissipated and thoughtless in his youth, and on one 
occasion one of his dissolute companions having been brought to trial 
before Sir William Gascoigne, chief justice of the King's Bench, for 
some misdemeanor, the prince became exasperated, and struck the 
judge in open court. The magistrate behaved with a dignity that 




Deatli of Hotspur. 



ENGLAND. 



565 




Henry V. 



became his office, and ordered the prince to be committed to prison. 
When the king was informed of the transaction, he expressed himself 
happy in having a magistrate endowed with such firmness in the execu- 
tion of the laws, and a son willing to submit to such a chastisement. 
The king died of a malady that made him subject to fits, in the forty- 
sixth year of his age, and the fourteenth of his reign. He left four 
sons, and was succeeded by the eldest, Henry V. 

One of the first acts of the new king was to dismiss all his late wild 
associates, and to send for Sir William Gascoigne, the judge whom he 
had insulted, and to commend his conduct on the occasion of the trial, 
and assure him of his confidence. He soon engaged in a war with 
France, assembled a fleet and army at Southampton, and disembarked 
at Harfleur, in Normandy, at the head of six thousand men-at-arms, 
and twenty-four thousand foot, mostly archers, and immediately began 
the siege of the place, which he took by assault, after having lost a 
considerable part of his forces. Fatigue and sickness had contributed 
also to waste the English army ; and Henry found himself enclosed in 
an enemy's country, like Edward III., without knowing how to escape. 
Having discovered a ford near St. Quentin, he passed the Somme, and 
marched towards Calais, watched by a French army four times, or, as 
some say, ten times more numerous than his own. 

Having now no resource but in courage and prudence, he seized an 
advantageous ground between two woods, in the plains of Agincourt. 
The constable D'Albret was for waiting till the enemy, who were in 
want of provisions, should abandon their post ; but the temerity and 



566 



ENGLAND. 




Heniy v . at the tattle of Aginccurt. 

imprudence of the French army renewed the disasters of Crecy and 
Poictiers. They attacked the English, notwithstanding the advan- 
tages of their situation ; and some rain having fallen, the ground was 
so moist that the French cavalry were unable to act eifectually. The 
English archers, defended by palisadoes, plied the enemy with showers 
of arrows, which nothing could resist, and having broken their ranks, 
rushed upon them with their battle-axes, and hewed them in pieces 
without resistance. The whole French army was a scene of confusion, 
terror, and dismay. The constable, several princes of the blood, and 
above nine thousand knights or gentlemen lay dead on the field, and 
many of the nobility were taken prisoners. Of the English, only 



ENGLAND. 



667 




Henrjr V. leaving his infaut son to the care of his brothers. 



about forty perished, and among these the person of most note was 
the duke of York. Henry immediately marched his army to Calais, 
where he concluded a truce with France. Want of funds prevented 
Henry, like his predecessors, from taking advantage of this victory. 

In a subsequent invasion of France, he had such success as to dic- 
tate terms of peace, by which he gained the king's daughter in mar- 
riage, and was declared heir to the French throne. He died in the 
thirty-fourth year of his age, leaving his son to the care of his brothers. 
Catherine of France, his widow, married a Welsh gentleman named 
Tudor, and from this marriage sprang the house of Tudor, which gave 
several kings and queens to England. Henry's son, Henry VI., being 
an infant at the time of his father's death, a long minority and a 
regency followed, during which the advantages lately gained in France 
were all lost. During his reign, a claimant to the crown appeared in 
the person of Richard, duke of York, who traced his descent to the 
second son of Edward III. Hence arose the famous wars of the 



568 



ENGLAND. 




Ladies' head-dresses of the time r)i' Henry VI, 



Roses, in which the houses of York and Lancaster contested their 
claims for thirty years. Edward the Fourth, son of the duke of York, 
after a succession of victories over the Lancasterians, was proclaimed 
king by a somewhat irregular popular election in 1461. 




Edward IV. proclaimed liing. 



ENGLAND. 



569 




Military costUDie of tlie time of Edward IV. 



The whole house of Lancaster was exterminated during his reign, 
with the exception of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who made his 
escape into France. The events of Edward's reign are full of romantic 
interest. He married a private gentlewoman for her beauty, and 
scandalized his subjects by his numerous amours with -Jane Shore and 
others ; and his crown was perilled by the daring intrigues and wars 
of the celebrated Warwick, the king-maker, whose adventures form the 
subject of Mr. Bulwer's romance. The Last of the Barons. 

Edward IV. died in 1483, and was succeeded by his eldest son, 
Edward V., who, however, together v/ith his brother, were supposed 
to have been murdered in the Tower, by order of their uncle, the duke 
of Gloucester, who succeeded to the throne under the title of Richard 
III. His character is represented in a very odious light by Shaks- 
peare and other Avriters, who were anxious to court the favour of the 
Tudors ; but Horace Walpole and other able writers have defended 
him, and shown that no dependence is to be placed on the popular 
accounts of his reign. The laws and public undisputed acts of his 
reign prove him to have been an able sovereign, having the welfare 
of his people at heart. He was defeated at the battle of Bosworth by 
Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, one of the most detestable of all the 



570 



ENGLAND. 




kings of England. Richmond was crowned on the battle-field, with 
the title of Henry VII. 

Henry VII. knew that his title to the crown was defective. He 
therefore married the princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward the 
Fourth, thus availing himself of the claims of both York and Lancas- 
ter. This marriage was called the Union of the Red and White 
Roses. Two persons appeared during his reign, each professing to be 
the true Henry V., escaped from the tower. The first, Simnel, was 
an impostor. The second is thought by many judicious writers to 
have been the true king. He is called in history Perkin Warbeck. 
Henry treated him very differently from his predecessor, and had him 
summarily put to death, without confronting him with the widow of 
Edward IV., who could instantly have recognised her son. 



ENGLAND. 



571 




MaiTiage of Heniy VII. 

Henry was successful in his policy of depressing the nobles, and he 
thereby did good service to the kingdom ; but his meanness, cowardice, 
and avarice disgraced the latter part of his reign. He left some 
thirteen millions to his heir, Henry VIII., to be squandered in extrava- 
gance and dissipation. He died in 1509. The most important event 
of this reign was the discovery of the American continent by Sebastian 
Cabot, sailing in the service of Henry VII. 

Having thus brought the history of England down to the period at 
which modern history properly commences, the period of the dis- 
covery of America, we gladly turn to our own country, proposing to 
revert again to England in a subsequent part of the volume. 





OUTLINE HISTORY OF AMERICA. 




HE American continent, known by 
this general name, is by some supposed 
to have been partially known to the 
ancients ; but the glory of its discove- 
ry in modern history belongs to Chris- 
toval Colon, a native of Genoa, better 
known to us as Christopher Columbus. 
This enterprising man, after many 
fruitless attempts to obtain assistance 
to enable him to prosecute liis elabo- 
rate speculations in geography, dis- 
covered the island of St. Salvador, Oct. 12, 1492; and six years 
afterward he reached the main continent at the mouth of the Orino- 
co, August 1, 1498. 

The discovery of the north continent of America belongs to the 
family of the Cabots, who resided in Bristol. The father and three 
sons set out in the year 1497, stimulated by the fame of Columbus, 
and under the patronage of Henry VII. of England. They discovered 
several islands, and coasted the whole of the main land of the north- 
ern continent doAvn to the Floridas. The honour of giving a name to 
these immense discoveries was gained by Amerigo Vespucci, a Floren- 
tine, who accompanied Alonzo de Ojeda as pilot, and on returning 
published the first account of the several countries ; from which cir- 
cumstance the newly-discovered world was called America. 

The Brazilian coast was first approached by Alvarez de Cabral, a 
Portuguese admiral, in 1500 ; and Florida by Ponce de Leon, a Spa- 

672 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF AMERICA. 



573 



niard, in 1512. In the eastern part of the peninsula, called Yucatan, 
the natives were found clothed in cotton garments, and exhibiting 
other marks of civilization, by Hernandez Cordova, A. D. 1517. The 
expedition which followed this discovery led to the conquest of Mexico. 

The spirit of discovery was now active, and all the great .European 
courts emulated one another in affording facilities to carry into effect 
the enterprising efforts of numerous able and adventurous navigators, 
who successively prosecuted the attempt, and immortalized their names 
by the successes which they gained. The history of the principal 
colonies and states which arose from these discoveries will be given in 
due course. 

America is divided into North and South. The principal colonies 
of the first were made by England and France ; those of the south by 
Spain and Portugal. The distinguishing spirit of the respective mother 
countries seems to have been infused into the infant states ; for while 
the southern division is rent by crude aspirants after liberty, the 
greater part of North America stands conspicuous — a mighty nation, 
growing in all the essentials of greatness, and already worthy to rival 
the leading European states. The vigour of the United States is that 
of Youth ; while the strength of the European dynasties assimilates 
very closely to the condition of Age — some of them strong, it is true, 
in their gray hairs, but others effete, and tottering to their decay. 





THE UNITED STATES. 
There were originally thirteen, colonized as follows :- 

When colonized. By whom. 

1. Virginia, 1607, The British. 

2. Neio York (Island,) 1618, The Dutch. 



3, 3Iassaehusetts, 1620, 

4. New Hampsliire, 1623, 
o. Delaware, 1626, 

6. Connecticut, 1633, 

7. Maryland, 1633, 

8. BJiode Island, 1636, 

9. North Carolina, 1663, 

10. South Carolina, 1670, 

11. New Jersey, 1670, 

12. Pennsylvania, 

13. Georgia, 



English Puritans. 

Ditto. 

The Swedes. 

Massachusetts emigrants. ' 

Lord Baltimore and Roman Catholics. 

Massachusetts emigrants. 



Virginian settlers. 

Ditto. 

Dutch and Swedes. 
1681, William Penn and Quakers. 
1732, Gen. Oglethorpe. 



These formed the original states, connected and swayed by the 
British ; and their early history is like that of other infant countries, 
while the difficulties they had at first to encounter were aggravated 
by the inveterate hostility of the natives, Avho found themselves dis- 
placed, and lorded over by men of different countries and different 
674 



THE UNITED STATES. 577 



habits from themselves. Many were the leagues of the natives to 
crush the rising states, but all alike ineffectual from the time of Philip 
of Pokanohet to that of Tecumseh. Rude valour is never an equal 
match to the arts of civilization ; a small power well and skilfully 
directed easily puts to flight large masses undisciplined and without 
cultivation. Every age affords numerous instances of the truth of this. 
But although the European settlers were, by the superiority of their 
arts and discipline, rendered triumphant over their rude and savage 
opponents in general encounters, many a deed of death was retaliated 
upon them, by sudden incursions. The earliest colonists suffered the 
greatest hardships and encountered the most bloody perils, from which 
some of the later ones were exempted, as well by the advancement and 
strength of the others as by their own more humane and judicious 
policy. 

But the United States had to combat not only with barbarian ene- 
mies, but with European also. The adjoining country of Canada was 
a fertile source of disquietude and harassings. For not only did the 
French settlers, in the wars between their mother states, assault and 
war with the English colonists, but they stimulated against them the 
wild wai'-cry of the native Indians. The barrier provinces of New 
York and New England felt most severely this ill neighbourhood. 
Desolation and bloodshed spread their ravages 'through these devoted 
lands on occasion of every renewal of war ; and many were the pro- 
jects of a combination of power, aided by England, to dispossess the 
French of Canada. In 1690 an attempt was made, but it was ren- 
dered abortive by the tardiness of the British admiral ; and the years 
1692 and 1696 witnessed similar scenes. 

The short period of repose enjoyed by the colonies subsequent to 
this period was interrupted by the general war in Europe ; and not 
only did New York and New England experience the renewal of 
former barbarities, but even Pennsylvania and Virginia, and South 
Carolina and Georgia escaped not the lash of European and Indian 
depredations. A brighter star now began its dawning, which, though 
occasionally obscured, at length attained its zenith. In 1745, Louis- 
bourg was gallantly taken by William Pepperell and a small body of 
New Englanders. In 1755, the English general Braddock received a 
signal defeat ; but three years afterward Fort Duquesne, now called 
Pittsburgh, was captured by the British and provincial troops. Suc- 
cess followed success, till Quebec and the whole of Canada fell under 
the power of Britain. In this exploit the name of Wolfe is conse- 
crated on the shrine of immortality. Thus relieved from the incursions 
and annoyances of their enemies, the States were so rapidly impelled 

37 



578 



THE UNITED STATES. 




Tea riot at Boston. 



to wealth and greatness, that in a few years the parent country looked 
towards them to bear some share in the burden of taxation which the 
war had imposed upon her. The stamp act, in 1765, elicited the first 
scintillation of that flame which was afterward to blaze so brightly on 
the altar of independence. This was repealed, and tranquillity again 
settled in the States, to be interrupted, however, by another act of the 
English legislation, levying duties upon certain articles imported into 
the colonies. The colonists, having acquired some consciousness of 
their own strength and importance during the conflicts which termi- 
nated in the expulsion of the French from Canada, felt indignant at 
the attempt to exact from them taxes in spite of themselves, and reso- 
lutely determined to resist the legislation. The British ministry par- 
tially yielded to their resistance, reserving only the duty upon tea. 
This Avas met by the colonists with a compact among themselves, not 
to import or use this excisable commodity ; and so keen was their 
spirit, and so decided their resolution, that the people of Boston seized 
and threw into the sea a large quantity of it, which had been sent into 
their port. The legislature of the mother country retaliated upon 
them by passing an act to close the port of Boston, and by other severe 
measures against the charter of Massachusetts. This roused the in- 
dignation not of them only, but of even the provinces most remote from 
them, and most removed from the operation of the obnoxious measures. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



579 




.!1 S^ 










Battle of Lexington. 

In August, 1774, a congress of delegates assembled at Philadel- 
phia. The proceedings in Massachusetts, where a provincial congress 
had been constituted, were approved of — a resolution neither to import 
from nor export to Great Britain was passed, and an earnest remon- 
strance was addressed to the English parliament in vain. Compulsion 
became the language ; troops were sent against the colonies, and 
coercive measures were adopted against all the States except North 
Carolina, New York, and Delaware. This exemption was intended to 
be the apple of discord, but it failed, for these provinces refused the 
boon which had been denied to their sister States. Now sounded the 
cry of preparation, to be reverberated from the engines of war, which 
opened their destructive fire, April 18, 1775. 

The first collision took place at Lexington. The Americans had 
collected some warlike stores at Concord, which a body of 800 Eng- 
lish troops destroyed, and in the exploit being met by a small 
party of militia to the amount of seventy, they killed eight of them, and 
wounded a great many. In their turn they were much annoyed by the 
provincials, and though reinforced by 900 men, under Lord Percy, they 
lost before they reached Boston 273 men in killed, wounded, and pri- 
soners. The next action was at Bunker Hill, where 1500 of the 
American troops, partially protected by intrenchments, for a long 



580 



THE UNITED STATES. 




Lord Percy. 

time maintained their post against double the number of regular 
troops, having three times repulsed their attack, and only yielding 
when destitute of ammunition, with which to return the fire of the 
British from their field-pieces and the guns of their ships, which 
raked with great effect their position. Their retreat was effected in 
good order, with the loss of 453, including General Warren, while the 
British lost above 1000 men. This engagement took place on the 
17th June, 1775. 

Matters now assumed a warlike aspect ; and the following year be- 
held troops levied in the name of the United Colonies, and General 
Washington appointed commander-in-chief. The first attempt made 
by this illustrious patriot was the siege of Boston, which commenced 
in July. In the following March, the British evacuated the place, 
and embarking aboard their fleet, sailed for Halifax. In the mean 
time, an expedition undertaken by the Americans in two divisions 
against Canada failed with great loss, and their General Montgomery 
was killed, and General Arnold wounded before Quebec. 

On July 4, 1776, the solemn act of declaring the colonies free and 
independent, with a constituted government of their own, was pub- 
lished, after a suitable address to the king, parliament, and people of 
Great Britain. Strong measures were now resorted to. The war had 
become general, and all hopes of bringing it to a speedy issue con- 
sisted in promptitude and large numbers. Accordingly, in August fol- 
lowing, twenty-four thousand British troops, under Sir William Howe, 



m 



^ffj' 



iliiililii'iiHl 




THE UNITED STATES. 



583 




General Warren. 



landed on Long Island, about nine miles from New York, where the 
American general held his head-quarters with about seventeen thou- 
sand troops. Four days after their arrival the British gained a partial 
victory ; and on the 14th of September Washington evacuated the 
island, of which the British took immediate possession ; and, Novem- 
ber 12, they captured Fort Washington, with its garrison of nearly 
three thousand men. This was followed by the capture also of Fort 
Lee, on the Jersey shore. The tide of success seemed to set in for 
the British. Washington's army was dispirited, and very much di- 
minished by the departure of large numbers of the troops Avhose term 
of service had expired. Nothing but the most determined spirit of 
freedom could have sustained both the Congress and army, to persevere 
in their now almost hopeless contest. 

But the spark of liberty once expanded to a blaze is not to be ex- 
tinguished by reverses ; and true patriotism will generally extract 
even from depression the means of triumph. Accordingly, Washing- 
ton strove to dispel the gloom which brooded over the horizon of the 
republic heavily and drearily, by some brilliant exploits, which, 



584 



THE UNITED STATES. 




General Montgomery. 



-while they thinned the ranks of his opponents, shed a lustre upon his 
name, and infused fresh animation into his troops. His successful 
attacks upon the British posts at Trenton and Princeton compelled 
them to evacuate the principal part of New Jersey. 

Nor were their exploits at the conclusion of the year 1776 less in- 
jurious to the British than the skill and address of the American 
general in the following spring, with a great inferiority of force, were 
superior to the plans and operations of the British general, who, 
baffled in his attempt upon Philadelphia by land, changed his system, 
and resolved to attack it from the south. To counteract this attack, 
Washington pushed forward, but having sustained a defeat with the 
loss of twelve hundred men, and finding the attempt vain, he aban- 
doned Philadelphia to its fate. September 26th, Sir AVilliam Howe 
entered the city, having stationed the principal part of his army at 
Germantown, about six miles distant. An attack made upon this post 
by the Americans failed, and they lost a great number of men. 

But their losses in this quarter were more than compensated by 



THE UNITED STATE!?. 



587 




Buttle cf Germanto"wn. 



their successes in the Northern States. After capturing Ticonderoga 
with a garrison of three thousand men, and surmounting all obstacles 
which the enemy could throw in his way, so that he had almost 
reached the object of his expedition, wliich was the capture of Albany, 
(a measure which would have been greatly injurious to the colonies,) 
General Burgoyne was compelled, on the 17th of October, to suri'en- 
der his whole army prisoners of war at Saratoga. This triumph was 
not less glorious to the American arms than useful in rekindling their 
courage, replenishing their stores, and conciliating to their side the 
favour of the European powers, especially the French, government, 
from whom they received the assistance of a fleet and an army. Nei- 
ther did Washington suffer his troops to remain inactive, or the British 
to be unmolested ; for on the retreat of the latter to New York, he 
attacked and harassed their march, and, though he aj'oided a general 
engagement, in an action at Monmouth he came off victorious. The 
only other exploit in this year was the unsuccessful attack of the 
American General Sullivan on Rhode Island. 

Although the British carried on the operations Avith activity in 
the Southern States, the year 1770 does not present us with many 
striking events. They captured Savannah, but were repulsed in an 
attack upon Charleston ; while in the North the American General 
Wayne, with a small body of troops, carried by assault the strong 
position of Stony Point. 



588 



THE UNITED STATES. 




■b "T" 



In the following year, active operations were continued by the Bri- 
tish in the Southern States ; they captured Charleston, and thereby 
wiped away the disgrace of their defeat in the preceding year; and 
Carolina was almost entirely overrun by them. General Gates, who 
was sent against them, sustained a complete defeat by Lord Cornwal- 
lis at Camden? General Greene, who superseded him, rallied his 
scattered troops, and by great activity and skill was enabled to turn 
the tide of Avar once more. Treachery now showed itself in the 
American camp, but, happily for the colonies, it Avas rendered abortive 
by a timely discovery. The name of Arnold is branded with infamy, 
and the English Major Andre was executed by the Americans as a spy. 

Very early in the following year, an inferior body of American mi- 
litia under General Morgan defeated some British troops at Cowpens; 
while at Guilford the colonists sustained some loss. Various now was 
the fortune of war. Greene, after a partial defeat at Camden, gained 



THE UNITED STATES. 



589 




Battle of Camden. 



a decisive advantage at Eutau Springs. The crisis now approaclied. 
Cornwallis, having received reinforcements, intrenched himself at 
Yorktown, in Virginia, when he was blockaded and besieged by a 
French army, in conjunction with Washington. After sustaining 
their combined attacks for nearly three weeks, Lord Cornwallis was 
reduced to the humiliating necessity of surrendering his army prison- 
ers of war, to the amount of seventeen thousand men. 

From this blow the British never recovered. The loss of two armies 
by surrender, convinced the English government, at last, that they 
were lavishing their resources and wasting their power in a vain con- 
test ; and though they made some partial attacks subsequently, the 
surrender of Cornwallis's army may be considered as the conclusion 
of this war. The independence of the colonies was acknowledged by 
the British government, by a treaty signed September 23, 1783. We 
may here remark that the assistance yielded by France contributed to 
aid the triumph of North American independence, and thereby inflicted 
a severe blow upon the British possessions and power. But it recoiled 
with a fearful revulsion upon herself. The lessons of American free- 
dom were wafted across the Atlantic to the plains of Gaul, and fomented 
that terrible explosion of public principles in France which demolished 
the throne and altar, and strewed the wrecks of its explosion over all 
the countries of Europe. Ending in a despotism too great for human 



590 



THE UNITED STATES. 




General Greene. 



Strength, the unwarrantable aggressions made on Spain and Portugal 
applied the match to the mine of slavery, which controlled the ener- 
gies of the various districts of South America, and led to the emanci- 
pation of those states, which now, rising from the ashes of oppression, 
open to the eve of history a vista of great events yet hidden beyond 
the horizon of time. To these states there may be yet seasons of ad- 
versity and trial ; but where the spirit of freedom is there is strength, 
— and they who are now feeble in infancy will hereafter become strong 
in maturity. Their slow advance to consolidated power is strongly 
contrasted with that speedy and efficient growth of greatness which 
marks the remaining history of the North American colonies, and 
shows the force of the different genius which had pervaded the respec- 
tive climes — characteristic of the spirit of their mother countries. 

Noble and spirited as were the efforts made by the colonies, and 
glorious as was the termination of the struggle, they soon found that 
their condition of independence was not in itself the boon of pros- 
perity. During the war, a series of dangers and the necessity of union 
and unceasing action, had kept their attention devoted to one object ; 
that object obtained, they found leisure to survey their condition. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



591 




SuiTender of Lord Cornwallis 



The sacrifices tliey had made now began to be felt. A heavy debt 
had been incurred, and they were a prey to all those evils which war 
ever bears in its train. Public morals were at a low ebb ; public 
credit deranged ; the acts of the Congress " more honoured in the 
breach than the observance." The arrival of peace, like the sudden 
calm after a storm, had nearly wrecked the fortunes of the youthful 
States. 

The real friends of the country now saw the danger, and a remedy 
was provided, Avhich, happily for them, proved effective. At Annapo- 
lis commissioners from five states assembled in 1786, and the result 
of their deliberation was a proposition to convene delegates from all 
the states, in order to consider the best means of revising their union 
and alliance. The result was the present constitution of the United 
States. This measure tended greatly to consolidate their power, and 
reduce their executive to order and authority; and although there 
arose two parties, and some delay took place before its general adop- 
tion, it became effective in the year 1789 ; and under the patriotic 
guidance of Washington as president, and John Adams as vice-presi- 
dent, it was found " to work well." 

Their wisdom led them, in opposition to great numbers of their 



592 



THE UNITED STATES. 



■"SPiii^iarip^Ki 




"Wayne defeating the InJians. 

countrymen, to remain neutral in the shock which convulsed unhappy 
France, and caused every state in Europe to reel with a violence which 
sapped the foundations of them all. They had, however, a war of four 
years witliithe Indians, which, though attended with loss and defeat 
at the beginning, terminated successfully under the auspices of Gene- 
ral ^Yayne, (a. d. 1794,) who had previously distinguished himself in 
the capture of Stony Point from the British, in a most gallant man- 
ner. "Washington, after being twice elected president, declined the 
office a third time, and was succeeded by John Adams. The aggres- 
sive and insulting conduct of the French toward the United States at 
length aroused them to hostilities. An army of regular troops was 
established, the command of which v/as given to Washington, who 
died, universally lamented, December 14, 1799. The Americans now 
increased their navy ; but the war was of short continuance, and con- 
fined to one or two actions on the ocean, in which the superiority of 
the youthful state over the French marine was clearly established. 

In the collision of the two parties, in the year 1801, the democratic 
or republican party succeeded, in opposition to Adams, in raising Jef- 
ferson to the office of president, and under him prosperity shone upon 
the republic. Raised now to considerable consequence, the politics of 
America began to have some influence upon those of Europe ; while 
the affairs of the Old World necessarily implicated in some measure 



THE UNITED STATES. 



595 




Commo 1 ore Ferry. 



the proceedings of the United States. The measures of retaliation 
and blockade pursued by the British and French governments for 
some years after the renewal of war in 1803, affected not only the 
whole of Europe, but also the transatlantic world. After a variety of 
events, especially relating to commerce, the intercourse of which had 
been much prevented, war was declared against Great Britain, June 
18, 1812. 

Although in the previous year the Americans with a body of regu- 
lar troops and some militia had defeated a large assemblage of Indians, 
their array at the beginning of the war was in a very inefficient state, 
and their efforts were accordingly attended with signal defeats. Gene- 
ral Hull, with an army with which he had invaded Canada, was cap- 
tured by General Broke, while another army of about one thousand 
men, under General Van Rensselaer, shared the same fate, but not 
without a manly struggle. 

On the ocean, they were more fortunate. In several well-fought 
engagements between frigates and smaller vessels, the Americans dis- 
played great skill and bravery. On Lake Erie, a British flotilla sur- 
rendered, after a long and well-fought action, to an American one of 
inferior force, under Commodore Perry. The military character of 



596 



THE UNITED STATES. 




Battle of Lake Chajnplain. 



the United States recovered its glory ; various and bloody were the 
struggles between the belligerants on the northwest frontier and in 
Canada ; and great loss was sustained by both sides, with alternate 
defeats and victories. 

In the mean while, the Atlantic frontier, which had previously en- 
joyed tranquillity, became the scene of bloodshed and hostile move- 
ments. The British were completely defeated in an attack upon Craney 
Island ; but they took and sacked the small town of Hampton. An 
expedition fitted out by the republic against Montreal failed, and was 
attended with very considerable loss to the Americans, at the close of 
the year 1813. A similar attempt met with a similar fate in the 
beginning of the following year ; but General Brown maintained the 
high character of the American arms at Fort Erie and Chippewa, both 
of which he captured from the British ; who were also foiled in their 
attempt to retake the former place. Nor were they unsuccessful only 
by land. Defeated on Lake Erie, their squadron on Lake Champlain 
yielded, after a severe contest, to an inferior force of the Americans ; 
while an expedition under Governor Prevost against Plattsburg was 
also abortive. 

But now liberated from Spain and Portugal, Great Britain sent 
some of her veteran warriors to display that prowess in the New, 
■which had been so distinguished in the Old World. An attack was 
made by a body of four or five thousand men upon Washington, which 
proved successful ; but this triumph was counterbalanced by the defeat 



THE UNITED STATES. 



597 




Battle of New Orleans. 



and death of General Ross at Baltimore, and the failure of a large 
array of British troops in an attack upon New Orleans. Both parties 
now seemed weary of a contest in which there was little to gain from 
victory but empty renown ; and accordingly peace was concluded 
between them at Ghent, December 24, 1814. 

The thunders of the American navy were first heard in the Medi- 
terranean, in the capture of a frigate and sloop of war, by Commodore 
Decatur, from the Algerines, whom the Americans compelled to re- 
nounce by treaty, for ever, the practice of holding American prisoners 
in slavery. This was in the year 1815, and four years afterward a 
treaty was concluded with Spain for the cession of Florida to the 
United States, which did not actually take place till the year 1821, 
when the American troops took possession of the territory. In the 
following year, an almost unanimous vote of Congress acknowledged 
the independence of the Spanish provinces in South America. 

From this time until 1846, the history of the United States was 
marked by but few important occurrences. The Florida war, as the 
attempts to compel the removal of the Seminoles of Florida was called, 
cost the government much money, and the array many valuable officers. 
But the Indians were at length brought to a general action, defeated, 
and compelled to remove west of the Mississippi. The state of Texas, 
situated west of Louisiana, having declared its independence of 




Battle of Falo Alto. 

Mexico, and been formed into a republic, a project was soon set on 
foot to annex it to the United States. This project found favour with 
the democratic party in the Union, and, in 1845, the annexation was 
consummated. 

Mexico did not recognise the independence of Texas, and threatened 
to invade and reduce it. Early in 1846, General Zachary Taylor, 
with a small but efficient force, was ordered to the Rio Grande, which 
was claimed as the western boundary of Texas. A strong Mexican 
force was posted on the opposite side of the river. After several 
skirmishes and correspondences, the jMexicans crossed the river, and 
were encountered and defeated by the Americans in two battles, 
fought at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, upon the 8th and 9th 
of JNIay. Soon after. General Taylor crossed the river and took pos- 
session of Matamoras. War was now declared on both sides. Con- 
gress authorized the president to raise fifty thousand volunteers, and 
great numbers were readily obtained. In August, General Taylor, 
Avith about six thousand men, marched towards the interior of Mexico, 
and on the 21st of September laid siege to Monterey. This town 
capitulated after three days' hard fighting. In December, General 
Taylor was deprived of the greater portion of his regular troops, which 
were withdrawn for the expedition against Vera Cruz ; and while 
General Santa Anna with twenty-one thousand men was in the field, 
j he was forced to depend upon about five thousand troops, mostly volun- 



THE UNITED STATES. 



603 




General Taylor at Buena Vista. 



teers. Preferring to risk an attack in the open field to being besieged in 
Monterey, General Taylor took a strong position at Buena Vista. 
There he was attacked by Santa Anna, on the 22d and 23d of Feb- 
ruary, 1847, and an obstinate and bloody battle was fought. In the 
end, the Mexicans were repulsed, with the loss of two thousand men. 
This victory secured the Americans in the country they had subdued. 
In Februai-y, 1847, about twelve thousand men Avere collected at 
Anton Lizardo, in the Gulf of Mexico, under the command of General 
Winfield Scott, general-in-chief of the armies of the United States, 
for an expedition against Vera Cruz, and an entrance into Mexico 
through that port. A small but efficient naval force assisted in the 
transportation of troops and in the attack. The troops were landed 
without opposition on the 9th of March, and between that time and 
the 22d, the city was completely invested. A bombardment of the 
city and the castle of San Juan de Ulloa then commenced, and con- 
tinued until the 26th, when both capitulated. On the 8th of April, 
the army under General Scott began its march for the city of Mexico. 
On the 18th, it encountered and defeated the Mexicans under Santa 
Anna at the strong pass of Cerro Gordo, taking more than three thou- 
sand prisoners and an immense quantity of stores. Pressing forward 
rapidly, General Scott surmounted all opposition, and reached the 
valley of Mexico. There the severest fighting began. Contreras and 
Churubusco, positions considered impregnable, and defended by nume- 
rous armies, were both carried in one day by about six thousand men, 



G04 



THE UNITED STATES. 




]3attle o>: Cevro G.-^rdr 



great numbers of the enemy killed, and many taken. A short 
armistice was then agreed on, but soon broken by the Mexican 
general, and the Americans pushed their conquests further. The 
castle of Chapultepec, the -works of Molino del Rey, the Garitas, and, 











Battle of Contreras. 



THE UNITED STATES. 



607 




Storraing of Chapultepec. 



finally, the capital itself, fell into their hands, (September, 1848.) 
This rapid and decisive campaign was highly honourable to the skill 
of General Scott and the bravery of his troops. In the mean time, 
guerillas swarmed upon the road from Vera Cruz to Mexico, and 
reinforcements for the American army were compelled to fight their 
way. In the battles at Huamantla and Atlixco, General Lane defeated 
and dispersed the chief forces of guerillas. While General Scott was 
pursuing his campaign of conquest, General Kearny, with a body of 
volunteers from the Western States, took possession of New Mexico, 
very little resistance being met. Colonel Doniphan, with a detach- 
ment of this force, performed a very remarkable march to join General 
Taylor, through nearly two thousand miles of an unknown and hostile 
country, defeated the superior forces of the enemy at Bracito and 
Sacramento, and arrived at General Taylor's head-quarters with but 
trifling loss. General Kearny proceeded to California, and aided 
Commodore Stockton and Colonel Fremont in conquering that terri- 
tory. Thus, after the capture of the city of Mexico, the Americans 
were masters of the most important portions of the country. The 



608 



THE UNITED STATES. 



Mexicans now saw the necessity of making peace, and negotiations 
commenced, the result of which was a treaty, by which the United 
States gained the valuable territories of New Mexico and California, 
paying in compensation the sum of fifteen million dollars. 

The Union, at the conclusion of the war with Mexico, possessed a 
greatly extended territory and a much enhanced warlike reputation. 
The war had been a series of conquests such as would raise the con- 
fidence of any people in themselves. The discovery of the golden 
wealth of the mountains and rivers in California soon followed, and 
vast numbers of enterprising persons flocked thither. The immense 
riches of the gold regions have astonished the world, and, for the time, 
turned all eyes in that direction. California has already become a 
populous and powerful state. 




General Kearny. 




MEXICO. 




HIS rich and interesting country 
J may be regarded as altogether a 
Spanish colony, though it is no 
er dependent on Spain, having become 
deral republic. Discovered by Fer- 
io Cortez, (a. d. 1519,) it was by him 
■n possession of in the name of the 
government. The exploits by which he 
^l^^'^^ made himself master of this country seem rather 
to belong to romance than history; but the cir- 
cumstances of the age, and the nature and character of the opposing 
powers throw an air of universal interest over operations so multiform 
and diversified as the conquest of a great and powerful state by a 
body of men hitherto unseen by them, possessing all the advantages 
of skill and experience in war, and resolution and enterprise in action. 
The first conquest made by Cortez was on the river Tabasco; after 
which, landing at St. Juan de Ulloa, he erected a fort, where he re- 
ceived two ambassadors sent by the emperor of Mexico with offers of 
assistance. A haughty answer was the reply of Cortez; and gifts 
of the most costly character were heaped upon him by the natives in 
the hope of conciliating peace and preventing his further advance. 
Dangers, however, encompassed his steps ; sedition broke out in his 
camp, which he had the address not only to quell, but turn to his own 
advantage. A new town was founded, called La Villa Rica de la 
Vera Cruz. Still a more alarming mutiny shoAved itself, which he 
609 39 



610 



MEXICO. 




again converted into the means of executing a measure fraught with 
imminent risk, but calculated to superinduce the deadly courage of 
despair. This measure was the destruction of the fleet. Soon after 
this, being joined by one of the native caciques, with a force of little 
more than one thousand men, fifteen horses, and six cannons, he enter- 
ed the state of the Tlascalans, wdiom, after a desperate resistance of 
fourteen days, he subdued and converted into allies. At Cholula he 
massacred six thousand of the natives in revenge for their treachery. 
Success now wafted his banners, and the capital of the empire lay 
before him. Received by the emperor Montezuma at the head of his 
nobles, Cortez was conducted to a house in the city, which he instantly 
fortified in the strongest manner possible. It appears there was a 
prediction among the Mexicans, that a strange people should come 
to chastise them for their sins — a piece of superstition of which Cortez 
availed himself. By treachery he obtained possession of the person 
of Montezuma, whom he kept a prisoner for six months. Worn out 



MEXICO. 



611 




l\ioritezurQa. 



I 



at length, the Mexican emperor acknowledged himself a vassal of the 
Spanish throne. In the mean while Cortez lost no opportunity of 
strengthening his power by surveys of the country, and dividing the 
spoils among his followers. 




\ eta UlQZ. 



612 



MEXICO. 



,'^- p 



'if 



/ , . / \ ' — ■ ',^"'1', I r Viii \wr 




Massacre at Cliolula. 



He "was again on the point of losing the fruit of his exertions ; for 
Velasquez, who commanded the expedition from which Cortcz had 
been despatched from Cuba, hearing of his success,' sent out a large 
force under Narvaez to seize him, and take possession of Mexico. 
This formidable danger Cortez frustrated, as well by bribes as the 
rapidity of his movements, almost without bloodshed ; but this he 
observed gave fresh spirit to the Mexicans, who attacked him on his 
return, and wounded him in his fortress. The wretched Montezuma, 
who had been placed in the van to deter the assailants from prose- 
cuting their attacks, was wounded, and died of a broken heart. Cortez 
was compelled to evacuate the place secretly, but only to return 
with a larger body of forces at the expiration of six months. We 
shortly afterward find his head-quarters at Tezcuco, where, with the 
assistance of the Indians, he built a flotilla of thirteen ships. Rein- 
forced with two hundred men, eight horses, and some military stores, 
he renewed the siege. Gallantly was the capital defended by Guati- 
mozin, the new emperor, and Cortez was once taken prisoner, but 
rescued at the expense of a severe wound. Seventy-four days did 
the city hold out, although the ranks of Cortez were augmented by 
one hundred thousand Indians. August 12, 1512, beheld Guatimozin 



MEXICO. 



618 




Cortez defeating Narvaez. 



a prisoner, and his capital in tlie hands of the merciless invaders ; 
merciless to him they were, for Cortez stained the lustre of his glory 
by putting the brave but ill-fated monarch to the torture. 

But there is, even in this world, a retributive justice ; and worldly 
minds, however sublimed by. courage and enterprise, generally encoun- 
ter reverses similar in character to their own conduct. Success had 
excited envy, and Cortez was doomed to find that no courage and 
enterprise can be altogether free from reverses. Created captain- 
general of New-Spain, (the name which he had given to his conquest,) 
even after an order had been issued, but not executed, for his arrest ; 
established in high favour and honour with the emperor, his native 
master, endowed with a grant of large possessions in the New World, 
he had the mortification to find himself possessing only military com- 
mand ; the political government was vested in a royal ordinance. 
His enterprising spirit led him to the discovery of the great Califor- 
nian gulf, but his glory was on the wane. Irritated and disappointed, 
he returned to Europe to appeal against the proceedings of the royal 



614 



MEXICO. 




ordinance, but without redress ; and he, who had barbarously tortured 
the gallant emperor of Mexico, died twenty-six years afterward of a 
broken heart, (a. d. 1547,) in the sixty-second year of his age. 

Abstracting the interest which attended the discovery and first 
conquest of Mexico or New Spain, the historian finds a tame succes- 
sion of events, which claim but a very vague notice. From the year 
1535 to 1808 there was a succession of fifty viceroys, one alone an 
American by birth. At the latter period a spirit broke forth, elicited 
by centuries of oppression and exclusive favour to Europeans, which 
led the Mexicans to offer resistance to the dominion of Spain. The 
dissensions were headed by Hidalgo, an enthusiastic patriot, who was 
proclaimed generalissimo Sept. 17, 1810. He unfortunately halted 
in his advance towards the capital, which gave the royalists time to 
rally, and enabled them to defeat his intentions a few months, and 
put him to death. But with him the spirit of independence vanished 
not. Morelos, another priest, assumed the command, and several 
provinces were completely insured to the side of liberty. A congress 
of forty members was called, but after the defeat and execution of 



MEXICO. 



615 




Iturbide. 



Morelos, it was dissolved by General Teran, wlio succeeded him. After 
languishing for some time, the revolt was entirely quelled in 1819. 

The change of system introduced into Spain by the cortes alarmed 
the ecclesiastics in Mexico, who, for their defence, elected Iturbide, 
under whom a bloodless revolution was effected, and Mexico maintained 
in all its right, independent of the Spanish dominion, (a. D. 1822.) 
After a usurpation of the title of emperor for little more than one 
year, Iturbide was compelled to lay down his sauthority, and he retired 
to Leghorn. 

A federal government was now formed, and sworn to, February 24, 
1824. Still commotions arose, in one of which Iturbide, who had been 
induced to return, lost his life. Although in the precarious situation 
of most states which rise on a sudden to independence from misrule 
and oppression, Mexico may hope to behold brighter days, and at no 
distant date become a great and powerful nation. The late war with 
the United States we have already noticed. 





Z-lacc d'Armes, Montreal. 



CANADA. 




HIS is the most important province possessed by 
Great Britain in North America. Its history is 
closely interwoven with that of the United States, 
with the people of which it has been, both under 
its original and present masters, in very fre- 
quent collision. Founded by the French in 1608, 
the colonists were for many years in danger of 
'^^^^^^^' being overwhelmed by the native Indians, with 
whom at length they entered into treaties, which enabled them to 
annoy very materially the neighbouring states under the British juris- 
diction. Twenty years after the founding of Quebec, the right of 
trading with Canada was granted exclusively to a company of French 
merchants, who, in the following years, were dispossessed of Quebec 
by Sir David Keith. This conquest remained in the hands of the 
British till it was ceded at the treaty of St. Germains. 

In 1663, the West India Company obtained the exclusive right of 
commerce for forty years, and Canada for thirty years enjoyed tran- 
quillity, and its concomitant, prosperity, which were interrupted by a 
bold but unsuccessful expedition of the people of New England, con- 
sisting of twelve or thirteen hundred men under the command of Sir 
William Phipps. This attempt w^as repeated about seventeen years 
afterward, (1711,) on a larger scale, but shared the same result, al- 
though four thousand veteran British troops were employed. 

616 



CANADA. 



617 




Death of Genei-al Wolfe. 



Little occurs in the affairs of Canada deserving notice, till the break- 
ing out of the continental war in 1756, when Canada became the 
theatre of military scenes, which ended, three years afterward, in the 
conquest of it by the British. The English General Wolfe, though 
defeated in his first operations by the French, at length, after an ac- 
tion sustained by equal gallantry on both sides, obtained possession 
of Quebec. In this exploit the opposing generals, Montcalm and 
Wolfe, are equally renowned for spirit and courage ; one did not sur- 
vive the mortification of defeat — the other lived only to hear the 
shouts of victory. This conquest was ratified to the English by the 
treaty of 1763. After that period it long enjoyed comparative peace ; 
for, with the exception of one unsuccessful expedition sent against it 
during the Revolutionary war, under General Montgomery, who was 
killed, Canada was exempt from military operations till the last Ameri- 
can war, when it became the theatre of several bloody frays, but re- 
sisted, by means of the British troops, the reiterated attacks of the 
Americans. Canada is now rising in importance. 








Ancient Peruvian temple. 




PERU. 

HE Peruvians have strange traditions tliat their 
progenitors were instructed in the arts of go- 
vernment and society by a man and woman 
named Manco Capac and Mama Oello, from an 
island in a lake south of Peru. Under their in- 
structions their kingdom was established, the 
royal family instituted, and success and power 
heaped upon them. This was about the thirteenth century ; and pre- 
vious to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1524 there had been fourteen 
successive monarchs or incas. On the arrival of the Europeans, Hu- 
ana Capac was the reigning inca, who was taken prisoner and put to 
death by Pizarro, the discoverer of the country, although he had paid 
as much gold for his ransom as filled the place of his confinement. 
Pizarro likewise defeated his successor, and was created marquis of 
Atibellos, with large possessions in his conquest. His associate, Al- 
magro, was also amply rewarded. 

The city of Lima was founded by Pizarro in 1533, but the Peruvi- 
ans again took up arms under their inca, Manco Capac, and obtained 

C18 



PERU. 



619 




some successes. A division took place between Pizarro and Almagro, 
the latter of whom, having sustained a defeat, was taken prisoner and 
beheaded by his conqueror, who, two years afterward, was assassinated 
by one of Almagro's party. Various insurrections ensued with various 
successes, in which were conspicuous Vaca de Castro, Blasco Vela, 
Gonzalez Pizarro, and Pedro de la Gasca, a priest. The royal au- 
thority of the Spaniards was at length established by the surrender 
and execution of the last inca, Tupac Amaru, by Toledo the viceroy, 
at Cuzco, (a. d. 1562.) Peru remained in a stafe of uninterrupted 
vassalage to the Spanish crown till the year 1782, when a descendant 
of the last inca, on being refused a title which had been granted his 
ancestor, Sayu Tupac, reared the standard of independence, round 
which the natives rallied with spirit, and in great numbers. For two 
years the war continued with alternate success. At last, Jose Gabriel 
Condorcanqui was defeated, and with the rest of his family, excepting 
his brother Diego, put to death. The surviving brother shortly after- 



620 



PERU. 




Vaca de Castro, 



ward shared the same fate, on susjDicion of being engaged in a revolt 
at Quito. 

Peru escaped for a while the rising spirit of insubordination which 
convulsed the other colonics ; but in 1809 commotions ensued, and 
juntas were established in the cities of Quito and La Paz, but Avere 
suppressed. In 1813 the independents of Chili were subjugated, but 
their efforts were triumphant in 1817, under General San Martin, and 
Chili was not only evacuated by the Peruvian army, but sent an army 
to retaliate upon Peru. Lima capitulated on July 6, 1821, and San 
Martin held levees in the vice-regal palace. The independence of 
Peru was solemnly proclaimed on the 28th of the same month, and 
San Martin was proclaimed protector. This office he laid down, after 
calling together a constituent and sovereign congress, on the 20th of 
September, 1822. 

Disinterested as was this abdication, it was not followed by pros- 
perity to the country. The inadequacy of the junta appointed by the 
congress soon became manifest ; the patriots were defeated early in 
1823 ; the congress now dissolved, anarchy predominated, and Lima 
surrendered to the Spanish troops in July of the same year. They 
were partially dispossessed by Bolivar and the Chilians shortly after- 
ward ; and Peru, though safe from Spanish subjugation, was like a 
vessel tossed by every casual wave, unsafe, and exposed to conflicting 
dangers. 




Fedro de YaldiTia. 



CHILI. 




Ills country was subjugated in 1450 by the Pe- 
ruvians, who retained possession of it till they 
were driven out by the Spaniards under AlmagrOj 
in 1535. The Spaniards were driven out by a 
general rising of the natives three years afterward. 
PizaiTO attempted to colonize the country in 1540, 
and though opposed by the natives of Copiapo, he 
succeeded in conquering several provinces, and founded the city of 
Santiago, February, 1541. In attempting to extend his conquest, he 
exposed his settlement for six years to the strong and repeated attacks 
of the Mapochians, in whose district Santiago was. His lieutenant, 
Pedro de Valdivia, to whom this extension was intrusted, made the 
Promancians his allies, and, surmounting various attacks and opposi- 
tions from the natives, founded the cities of Conception, Imperial, and 
Valdivia. He was shortly afterward defeated by his old enemies the 
Araucanians, who took him prisoner, and he was at length despatched 
by an old chief with the blow of a club. 

These Araucanians kept the new colonies for several years in a con- 
tinual state of alarm and distress ; and so far succeeded in avenging 
their former defeats as in 1589 to capture Vallanca, Valdivia, Impe- 
rial, and other towns, and form the cities of Conception and Chillar. 

621 



622 



CHILI. 




Almagro. 



Nor were these the only losses sustained by the Spaniards. The Dutch 
plundered Chiloe, and massacred the garrison. The feuds between 
the Araucanians and Spaniards were settled by a treaty of peace in 
1641, which lasted for fourteen years ; then came a war of ten years, 
and another peace. In 1722 a conspiracy for the extirpation of the 
whites was happily frustrated. The colonists were gathered into 
towns, the country divided into provinces, and several new cities 
founded by the governor Don Josef Manto, 1742. A similar attempt 
by Don Antonio Gonzago, in respect of the Araucanians, relighted 
the torch of war, which blazed three years, when harmony was re- 
stored. Nor does any thing of particular moment occur in the history 
of Chili till 1809 : then a successful revolutionary movement took 
place, and for four or five years fortune favoured the cause of inde- 
pendence ; but in 1814 a royalist army from Peru nearly extinguished 
the flame of liberty. Success (in 1817) returned with General San 
Martin, who brought them freedom. D. Bernardo O'Higgins was made 
director of the junta ; and a fatal blow was struck at the power of the 
royalists on the 5th of April, 1818, when a large tract of coast was 
declared in a state of blockade by the Chilian navy under Lord Coch- 



CHILI. 



623 



rane. In 1820, as stated in the history of Peru, the Chilian army, 
under San Martin, liberated Peru from the Spanish thraldom, and 
San Martin retired into the ranks of private life in Chili. His example 
was followed by O'Higgins, who resigned the dictatorship January 28, 
1823, and was succeeded by General Freire, the commander-in-chief. 
The royalist flag, which was hoisted in Septeml^r, near the city of 
Conception, was pulled down, after a short period, and a free constitu- 
tion appointed, with a popular government. 





LunJing of Cabral. 







BRAZIL. 



HE honour of discovering this country is con- 
tested between Martin Behem and Pedro 
Alvarez Cabral, at the close of the fifteenth 
century. It was originally called Santa Cruz 
by Cabral, but afterward Brazil, from the 
name of a wood produced there. It was first 
'>(,f\ colonized by some refugee Jews, in 1548, ba- 
!hfli?v) nished from Portugal, and was fostered by the 
able guidance of Governor de Sonza, and the 
blandishments of the Jesuits. In 1624, San 
Salvador was taken possession of by the Dutch, 
who were in turn defeated by an armament 
of Spaniards under Frederic de Toledo. 

The Dutch, in 1630, succeeded in making themselves masters of 
Temerara, Paraiba, and Bio Grande. Maurice of Nassau added Scara, 
Sercgippee, and the greater part of Bahia ; and the whole of Brazil 
was on the point of yielding to their arms, when the revolution which 
drove Philip IV. from the Portuguese throne afforded an opportunity 
to both the Dutch and Portuguese to expel the Spaniards from Brazil. 
By an agreement between them, the country received a plural title, 
being called Brazils, from the circumstance that both the Dutch and 
Portuguese possessed almost an equal share of it. By conquest and 
treaty the whole at length fell to Portugal. 

In 1806, the royal family of Portugal, driven from Europe by the 
invasion of the French, migrated to Brazil, which from that period has 
risen rapidly in importance, indcpcndcnce,*and strength. In 1817, a 

024 




40 



BRAZIL. 



62T 



revolution broke out in Pernambuco, which failed. A free constitu- 
tion was passed, and the king returned to Lisbon. Subsequently the 
prince-regent, on his birth-day, October 12, 1822, was proclaimed 
constitutional emperor of Brazil, independent of the Portuguese 
throne—a measure which has since been formally recognised by the 
government of the parent country. 





THE REPUBLIC OF LA PLATA, OR UNITED 
PROVINCES. 

HE title of the United Provinces is of mo- 
dern date, as the following brief outline 
of the history of this part of the New 
World will exhibit. Juan Diaz de Solis, 
a Spaniard, is said to have been the first 
adventurer who explored the country, 
and took possession of it, (a. d. 1513.) 
Sebastian Cabot, in 1526, in the La 
Plata, discovered the island St. Gabriel, the river St. Salvador, and 
the Paraguay. 

Buenos Ayres was founded in 1535, by Don Pedro de Mendoza. 
This did not flourish much, on account of the restricted state of com- 
merce, which was, however, gradually relaxed, and in 1748 the annual 
flota made its last voyage. A free trade with several American ports 
began in 1774, and an extension to the Spanish ports was granted in 

628 




THE REPUBLIC OP LA PLATA. 629 



1778. Under a viceroy trade augmented, and commercial prosperity 
ensued. Buenos Ayres was captured in 1806 by General Beresford, 
•with a British army, which was in turn compelled to surrender a few 
weeks afterward to General Liniers, a French officer, at the head of a 
body of militia. Sir Home Popham, with 5000 men, having captured 
Fort Maldonado, attacked MonteVideo, without success ; but, reinforced 
by Sir Samuel Auchmuty, at length carried the town by storm. The 
operations were extended under General Whitelocke and General Craw- 
ford, who with 12,000 men renewed the attack upon Buenos Ayres, 
but were defeated and captured by the native militia. Liniers, who 
had contributed so largely to this defeat, was raised by the people to 
the vice-royalty, upon the expulsion of Sobremonte for cowardice. 

The United Provinces escaped not the swell of that storm which the 
French invasion stirred up in Spain. After various intrigues and plots, 
Ferdinand VII. was at length proclaimed in Buenos Ayres by the ad- 
dress of Don Josef de Goyeneche. A rising of the people (August, 
1809) was suppressed by Liniers, who was shortly after deposed and 
sent into exile. Rapid were the convulsions which now shook this un- 
happy country ; till, on May 26, 1810, the people rose, expelled the 
viceroy, and appointed a provisional junta of nine persons. This is 
the era of their independence. In vain the provinces of Cordova, 
Paraguay, and Monte Video refused their co-operation ; they were 
compelled to go along with the tide. In vain Liniers and General 
Nieto assembled armies ; they were defeated, and beheaded. Shortly 
after, the district of Potosi fell into the hands of the patriots, who de- 
puted, in 1814, a special mission to Ferdinand, on his restoration to 
the Spanish throne, with conditions of submission. These, happily 
for them, were rejected. In the same year a small cloud passed over 
the hopes of the patriots by the defeat of General Artigas, which was 
dispelled by the capture of Monte Video, the last stronghold of the 
Spaniards. After two years of carnage and confusion, in 1816 a 
sovereign congress met at Tucuman, and on October 6, the same year, 
the act of independence was ratified, D. Juan Martin Pueyrsedon 
being dictator. Monte Video was taken by the Portuguese under the 
baron de Leguna, who had seized on the most valuable part of Banda 
Oriental. 

Petty dissensions and intrigues, incident to the efforts of rising in- 
dependence, interrupted the progress of success necessary for the 
consolidation of a new state. D. Jose de San Martin cut a distin- 
guished figure in this part of the history, having twice defeated the 
independents atEntre Rios, in 1811 ; but his efforts failed, and the in- 
dependence of the provinces of Rio de la Plata was shortly after sealed. 



630 



THE REPUBLIC OF LA PLATA. 



Artigas, driven by the Portuguese across the Paraguay, was appre- 
hended by the dictator Francia, and in 1819 Pueyrsedon the dictator 
fled to Monte Video, and thus dissolved the confused mass of the union 
of conflicting and discordant provinces. After a variety of events 
and political changes, D. Martin Rodriguez was established governor, 
October 6, 1820 ; and in the following year the independence of Buenos 
Ayres was recognised by the Portuguese government. A general 
congress was convened at Cordova the same year, and on the 15th of 
December they decided the number of deputies to be sent by each 
province. 

In 1827 a war broke out between the republic and Brazil, respect- 
ing the possession of Uruguay, (Banda Oriental,) established as an 
independent state in 1828 ; and more recently La Plata has been in- 
volved in disputes with both Bolivia and France. These wars have 
contributed to retard the march of her prosperity ; but with all her 
accumulated difiiculties, La Plata has every appearance of soon be- 
coming a prosperous country. 




Mexican inn. 




Amerigo Vespucci. 



COLOMBIA. 




HIS is a nevf state, formed at the close of the 
year 1819, from the states of Granada, and 
Venezuela or Caraccas. It will therefore be 
necessary to detail the distinct history of 
these two original states. 

Granada, or as it is called, New Granada, 
was discovered by Columbus in his fourth 
voyage, and taken possession of for the Spa- 
nish government. He was followed by others, and especially by 
Amerigo Vespucci, who was the first who made Europe acquainted 
with a published account of this part of the New World. The first 
regular colonists were Ojeda and Nica Essa, in 1508 ; the former 
founded the district called New Andalusia, but with no great success ; 
the latter. Golden Castile, and he also perished. These two districts 
were united (1514) in one, called Terra Firma, under Avila, who suc- 
cessfully extended the discoveries, and founded the town of Panama. 
Other additions were subsequently made, and the kingdom of New 
Granada was established under a captain-general in 1547. As it had 
been established, so did it continue for more than one hundred and fifty 
years, when in 1718 it became a vice-royalty, which form of government 
lasted but for six years, when it was supplanted by the original one, 
which was again superseded in 1740 by the incubus of the vice-royalty. 
Thus did it continue, till the weakness of the mother country, from the 

631 



632 VENEZUELA. 



invasion of the French, afforded an opportunity to raise the standard 
of independence. Many and various have been the events attendant 
upon the struggle for mastery ; but a severe blow was inflicted by 
their old masters in 1810, who, under Morillo, defeated the colonists 
•with tremendous loss. Three years of renewed subjection followed, 
when the success of Bolivar and the union of Granada with Vene- 
zuela caused a brighter star to arise. 



VENEZUELA. 

This district was discovered somewhat earlier than Granada, by 
Columbus, in 1498. After several fruitless attempts to colonize it, 
the Spanish government disposed of the partially subdued natives to 
the Weltsers, a German company of merchants. Their mismanagement 
led to a change in 1550, when Venezuela, like Granada three years 
before, became a supreme government under a captain-general. From 
that period to 1806, Venezuela was a torpid vassal under the Spanish 
crown, when a futile attempt for independence was made under Gene- 
ral Mirando, a native. Simultaneous with Granada, Venezuela rallied 
for liberty when the mother country was prostrate before the ascend- 
ency of France in 1810. In the following year a formal proclama- 
tion of independence was made July G, and success seemed to attend 
the cause. Then came the dreadful earthquake. Superstition un- 
nerved the arm of freedom, and the royalist general, Monteverde 
discomfited Mirando, and again overran the province. In 1813, 
Bolivar called independence again into action, and success attended 
him for three years, when another defeat was sustained, which was 
followed by another in the following year, and then by a victory. 
Reverses again recurring, compelled the congress to appoint Bolivar 
dictator; and in 1819 the union of Venezuela with Granada was 
effected under the name of Colombia. 

Colombia may therefore date its history as a nation from this union, 
which was agreed upon Dec. 17, 1819 ; and the installation of the 
united congress took place May 6, 1821 ; which was followed, on June 
24, by a victory obtained by the President Bolivar over the Spaniards, 
at the celebrated battle of Carabobo, in which the royalist army lost 
above six thousand men, besides their artillery and baggage. 




Bolivar. 



BOLIVIA. 

jjTIE history of this recently formed state, 
known before as Upper Peru, partakes of the 
nature of an episode in the life of the illus- 
trious Bolivar, in whose honour its present 
name was given, and to whose wise councils 
it is so much indebted. Previously to the 
battle of Ayachuco in 1824, it formed a part 
of the Spanish viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres ; 
but General Sucre, at the head of the republi- 
cans, having then defeated the royalist troops, 
the independence of the country was effected ; and in the following 
year, at the request of the people, Bolivar drew up a constitution for 
its governance. 

His renown was now at its height, and every act of his government 
showed how zealously alive he was to the improvement of the national 
institutions and the moral elevation of the people over whom he ruled. 
In 1823 he went to the assistance of the Peruvians, and having suc- 
ceeded in settling their internal divisions, and establishing their inde- 
pendence, he was proclaimed liberator of Peru, and invested with 
supreme authority. In 1825 he visited Upper Peru, which detached 

633 




634 GUIANA. 

itself from the government of Buenos Ayres, and was formed into a 
new republic, named Bolivia, in honour of the liberator ; but domestic 
factions sprang up, the purity of his motives was called in question, 
and he was charged with aiming at a perpetual dictatorship ; he ac- 
cordingly declared his determination to resign his power as soon as 
his numerous enemies were overcome, and to repel the imputations of 
ambition cast upon him, by retiring to seclusion upon his patrimonial 
estates. The vice-president, Santander, urged him, in reply, to re- 
sume his station as constitutional president ; and though he was beset 
by the jealousy and distrust of rival factions, he continued to exercise 
the chief authority in Colombia till May, 1830, when, dissatisfied with 
the aspect of internal affairs, he resigned the presidency, and expressed 
his determination to leave the country. The people ere long became 
sensible of their injustice to his merit, and were soliciting him to re- 
sume the government, when his death, which happened in December, 
1830, prevented the accomplishment of their wishes. The government 
of Bolivia is in the hands of a president, to which office General Santa 
Cruz was elected in 1829. 



GUIANA. 

This is a British possession, comprising the several districts of Ber- 
bice, Essequibo, Demerara, and Surinam. It is asserted by some that 
Columbus saw this coast in 1458, and by others that it was discovered 
by Vasco Nunez in 1504. It became, however, known to Europe in 
1595, when Raleigh sailed up the Orinoco in his chimerical search of 
El Dorado, a city supposed to be paved with gold. The coast of Guiana 
then became the resort of buccaniers ; and in 1634 a mixed company 
of these freebooters, English and French, formed the settlement of 
Surinam for the cultivation of tobacco. They were, after twenty years 
of great hardship and difficulty, taken under the protection of the 
British, who appointed Lord Willoughby of Parham governor, 1662. 
The Dutch captured the settlement in 1667, and the possession of it 
was confirmed by the treaty of Westminster, England receiving the 
colony of New York in exchange. In 1783, the Dutch settlements on 
the Essequibo, which had been captured by the British in the American 
war, were restored to the States-general. In 1796, both Berbice and 
Demerara fell to the English, as also Surinam in 1799 ; but again 
reverted to Holland, at the peace of Amiens, in 1802 ; fell to the Eng- 
lish arms in 1813, and were confirmed by the treaty of Paris, 1814, to 
Great Britain. 



AMAZONIA. 



635 



AMAZONIA. 

A COUNTRY of South America, so called from a martial and powerful 
state, in which a body of women, with arms in their hands, opposed 
Francisco Orellana, in his passage down the river Maragnon. It was 
first discovered by him, a. d. 1541 ; when, with fifty soldiers, he was 
wafted in a vessel down the stream of a smaller river into the channel 
of the Maragnon, which he also called Amazon. 

The origin of the name Amazon is folded in some mystery. It is 
applied exclusively to females of strong and martial habits, and was first 
used in reference to a race of them who, whether actually or fabulously is 
a matter of dispute, founded an empire in Asia Minor, upon the river 
Thermodon, along the coast of the Black Sea, as far as the Caspian. 
But whether the account of them is fabulous or true, they are men- 
tioned by the most ancient Greek writers, as well as by others of a 
late date ; and various are the accounts given both of their orio-in and 
history. 




Galley of the time of Orellana, 




iEpisotirs of .^mrrirau ii)istovj), 

KIXG PHILIP'S WAR. 

r^ ,;;-||^^,i ,'i^ HE colonists of New England were, 
!'.,; '.i^'rVfl^H^s^ 'by a happy combination of circum- 
stances, at peace with the Indians 
for about fifty years from the land- 
ing of the first Puritan settlers. 
Their number and wealth had ra- 
pidly extended, and they looked 
forward to a future of sunshine and 
plenty; but a mighty storm sud- 
denly checked their hopes, and 
desolated many of their homes. 
Massasoit, the ruler of a powerful 
^^^' tribe at the time of the landing of 
the pilgrims, had entered into an alliance with them ; and his two 
sons, after his death, manifested an earnest desire to maintain such 
politic relations ; they even repaired to Plymouth and requested that 
English names might be given them. In compliance, the English 
named the elder Alexander, and the younger Philip. It soon appear- 
ed, however, that this was meant to lull the English into a fatal secu- 
rity. Alexander was detected in an attempt to invite the Xarragan- 
setts to hostility. The disappointment in the attempt overwhelmed 
him with rage and shame, and he died soon afterward. Philip now 
renewed the alliance with the English ; but it was to gain time for 
the execution of a mighty project he had formed. This chief pos- 
sessed the winning, moulding, wielding genius of the great statesman 

636 




KING Philip's war. 



637 



_,^.,.,_,-'^- 




Attack on DeerfielcL 



and warrior. He foresaw tlie ultimate result of the English encroach- 
ments, and determined to make an effort to check them, and even to 
exterminate the colonists ; for this purpose it was necessary to unite 
most of the New England tribes. In this scheme Philip displayed his 
powers, and was in a great measure successful. 

A converted Indian, having at length discovered the plot, revealed 
it to the governor of Plymouth ; he was soon after found dead in a 
field, with evidence that he had been murdered. A few of the neigh- 
bouring Indians were arrested, tried, and convicted of the crime ; and 
one of them confessed his share in it, as well as the fact that he had 
been instigated to it by Philip. The crafty chief now threw off 
the mask, and summoned the confederates to his aid. The colo- 
nies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut proceeded to arm 
for the common defence, having first endeavoured to negotiate, and 
failed. 



638 KING Philip's wak. 



On the 20th of June, 1675, Philip's Indians attacked Swanzey, a 
frontier town, insulted the people, rifled their houses, killed four per- 
sons and a number of cattle. Four days after, they killed nine and 
wounded seven persons. The Plymouth troops now marched to pro- 
tect that town. On the 29th, the troops drove the enemy into a 
swamp, where they could not be followed. The next day, Major 
Savage, with a reinforcement, arrived ; he marched the army to the 
Indian towns, but found them deserted. Major Savage, to pursue 
the enemy with success, divided his men into companies, which he 
ordered to march in difl'erent directions, stationing forty at Mount 
Hope. On the 4th of July, the troops under Captains Church and 
Henchman fell in with about two hundred Indians, and a furious com- 
bat ensued. The savages had the advantage until the English were 
reinforced, when they fled in every direction, leaving about thirty dead 
and sixty wounded on the field. The English had twelve killed and 
twenty-seven wounded. Captain Church, with sixty-four men, now 
pursued the Indians into a dense forest, where he was suddenly at- 
tacked by them ; and, though he fought bravely and escaped, he lost 
all but sixteen of his men. The remainder of Major Savage's troops 
returned to Swanzey. 

The Indians now spread desolation among the villages of the fron- 
tier, and kept the inhabitants of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Rhode 
Island in a state of continual alarm. Captain Hutchinson, who had 
been sent with a party of horse to treat with the Nipmucks, was 
drawn into an ambush near Brookfield, himself mortally wounded, 
and sixteen of his men killed. The Indians then attacked Brookfield, 
burned all the houses but one, Avhich was garrisoned and bravely 
defended until Major Willard, with a party of troops, arrived ; and 
killed all the cattle and horses they could find. 

In September, Hadley, Deerfield, and Northfield, on Connecticut 
river, were attacked, and numbers of the inhabitants killed or wound- 
ed. There were also a number of skirmishes in that part of the 
country, in which the English were, upon the whole, losers. Captain 
Beers and twenty men were killed near Northfield. At Deerfield 
there were about three thousand bushels of wheat in stock, which it 
was resolved to bring to the general magazine at Hadley. Captain 
Lothrop, with about ninety men, guarded the teams employed in this 
service. On their way, they were surrounded and suddenly attacked 
by between seven and eight hundred Indians ; they fought bravely, 
but were nearly all killed. Captain Mosely marched from Deerfield 
to reinforce Captain Lothrop ; but arriving too late, he was obliged 
to fight the whole body of the enemy for several hours, until Major 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 639 



Treat, with about one hundred and sixty Englishmen and Mohegan 
Indians, marched to his aid and put the enemy to flight. 

About the middle of September, the commissioners of the colonies 
resolved to raise one thousand men, five hundred of whom were to be 
dragoons with long arms. In the mean time, Philip was active and 
successful. Tbe Indians in the neighbourhood of Springfield, pro- 
fessing friendship, conspired with Philip for the destruction of that 
town. One Toto, a Windsor Indian, disclosed the plot to the whites, 
and a messenger was sent to Major Treat, who was at Westfield with 
the Connecticut troop, to apprize him of their danger ; but the people 
of the town were possessed with a singular idea of their security, and 
no preparation for defence was made. Lieutenant Cooper, who com- 
manded there, went with one companion to ascertain the truth of the 
report. On the way, he met the advancing Indians, who fired, killed 
his companion, and mortally wounded him ; he kept his horse till he 
arrived in the town to give the alarm. The enemy instantly com- 
menced a furious attack. Thirty houses and barns were burned, but 
the people were saved from massacre by the timely arrival of Major 
Treat. 

The Indians, elated with their successes, now collected about eight 
hundred men and made a furious attack upon Hadley; but the garri- 
son of the town fought with skill and spirit, and kept them at bay 
until the arrival of the active Major Treat, who attacked them wath 
his whole force. The Indians were defeated, and suffered such a loss 
that they became disheartened, and did not again make an attack in 
that part of the country. 

The forces of the united colonies were in the field in December, 
and rendezvoused at New London, Norwich, and Stonington. Josiah 
Winslow Avas chosen commander-in-chief. As the Narragansetts ex- 
hibited a hostile determination, it was resolved to proceed against 
them. On the 7th of December, Gen. Winslow, with over eleven hun- 
dred men, marched for the head-quarters of the enemy, and on the 
9th, in the morning, having travelled all the preceding night, reached 
the borders of the extensive swamp in which the Narragansetts were 
encamped. On reconnoitring, it was found that the strong fort in the 
centre of the swamp could only be reached by a single narrow path. 
About ten o'clock, the line of battle being formed, the English were 
ordered to rush into the swamp ; when within fifty rods of the fort, 
they were met and attacked by the enemy. A furious combat ensued. 
The Indians were driven to their fort, but from it they poured a 
destructive fire upon the English. Oneco and his Mohegan warriors 
now scaled the walls, and threw the Narragansetts into confusion ; 



640 KING Philip's war. 



those who attempted to escape were instantly cut to pieces by the 
troops without ; no quarter was given. Of four thousand Indians 
supposed to have been in the fort, only two hundred escaped ; but 
among them was Philip. The loss of the English was very severe — 
two hundred and ninety-nine killed, and five hundred and thirteen 
wounded. In consequence of the severity of the weather and the 
number of the Avounded, the army now returned ; but parties of the 
Massachusetts and Plymouth forces hept the field during the winter, 
ranging the country, destroying villages, and taking prisoners. Of 
the captains of these parties, Benjamin Church was decidedly the 
most successful and the most dreaded by the enemy. 

An exploit of Captain Church, during the pursuit of the Narra- 
gansetts, is worthy of note. On the route, the pursuers reached an 
Indian town on an island, surrounded by a small swamp. The water 
of the swamp was frozen, which prevented the soldiers from charging 
the wigwams. A volley of musketry was poured into them, and under 
its cover the troops began to cross the ice. The Indians broke and 
fled as soon as the English and Mohegans reached the island. A 
Mohegan captured one of the enemy who had been wounded in the 
leg, and obtained permission to put him to death in the Indian mode. 
Church, not liking such bloody sport, withdrew. The Mohegan, elated 
with his task, advanced towards his victim flourishing his tomahawk 
and evincing his satisfaction. Suddenly he aimed a tremendous blow 
at his prisoner's head ; but the Indian dodged it, broke from those 
who held him, and ran for his life. Taking the same direction Church 
had done, he suddenly ran against him. Church grappled him, but 
the Indian slipped away and again ran, but stumbled and fell, and 
Church was again upon him. They fought and wrestled until the 
Indian broke away for his third race. Church pursued. They soon 
reached the ice, which being in some places hollow caused a rumbling 
noise. It now began to grow dark, and the Indian ran abreast of a 
fallen tree, and began to cry for assistance. Church was soon upon 
him ; each laid hold of the other's hair, and a desperate struggle en- 
sued. The ice was now heard crackling at a distance, and a person 
came running toward them. The stranger reached them, and, in 
silence, commenced feeling the two heads. With the same silence, 
he raised his hatchet and sank it in the head of the savage. It was 
the Mohegan executioner. Having gratified his cruelty, he hugged 
Church for having caught his captive, and conducted him to the camp 
in triumph. 

The Nipnet and Narragansett Indians were nearly exterminated in 
the action of the 9th of December. Those who escaped seized every 




41 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 643 




Nocc,^^ 



Cononchet. 



occasion to revenge the loss of their brethren. In February, Lan- 
caster and Medfield were attacked, many houses burned, twelve per- 
sons killed, and others made captives. On the 3d of March, Captains 
Pierce and Watkins, with two companies of cavalry, were ordered out 
to protect the frontier inhabitants. On the morning of the 6th, they 
attacked a body of Indians near Patuxet. Soon after, they found 
themselves surrounded by about five hundred savages, and though 
they struggled manfully, only five escaped. About ninety savages 
were slain. On the 25th, Weymouth and Warwick were attacked and 
burned, and many of the inhabitants killed. On the 10th of April, 
Kehoboth and Providence were pillaged and burned. On the 8th of 
May, Capt. Dennison, with a company of English and one hundred 
and fifty Mohegans, attacked a party of the enemy near Groton, and 
killed or captured nearly all of them. 

On the 23d, Cononchet, sachem of the remaining Narragansetts, 
proceeded with about two hundred of his tribe to the banks of the 
Connecticut river, to plant corn. The governor, apprized of this 
movement, sent three companies of cavalry and about one hundred 
Mohegans, under the command of Oneco, to attack them. The ac- 
tion began in the vicinity of Seekonk. The Narragansetts fought 
bravely, but the superior force of the assailants overpowered them. 
In the midst of the action, Cononchet, fearful of the issue, attempted 
to seek safety in a neighbouring wood. But the Mohegans recognised 



644 KING Philip's war. 



and pursued him. Cononchet, seeing himself hard pressed, threw 
away his blanket and silver-laced coat, and plunged into the river, 
where the Mohegans and English overtook and secured him. This 
brave chief bore himself proudly, and refused to confer with any but 
the commander of the English. He rejected the offer of life upon 
condition of making peace with the whites, and when told he was con- 
demned to die, said he " liked it well — he should die before his heart 
was soft, and he had said any thing unworthy of himself." He was 
shot by Oneco, the Mohegan sachem, at Stonington. 

The English and Mohegan parties now scoured the country, killed 
or took many of the enemy, and were everywhere successful. But in 
June the Indians destroyed Bridgewater, and killed forty of the in- 
habitants ; and on the 11th of July Major Savage, with three com- 
panies of cavalry, Avas surrounded and suddenly attacked by an over- 
whelming force. The Indians gained a complete victory, killing fifty- 
four of the English. In other attacks the Indians were repulsed. 

On the 25th of September, a large body of Indians attacked Marl- 
borough, and cut off two companies of troops who were sent to its 
assistance. Captains Wadsworth and Smith were killed in this affair. 
In the latter part of October, the Indians on the Merrimack took up 
the hatchet, and spread massacre and desolation among the New 
Hampshire settlements. But they were defeated on the 23d and 26th 
of December, by Captains Sill, Holyoke, Cutler, and Prentice. The 
savages were no longer confined to any particular place, but, in par- 
ties of from fifty to one hundred, were scattered all over the thinly- 
inhabited parts of New England, seizing every chance to murder, 
burn, or capture. The inhabitants of Deerfield and other towns 
formed themselves into companies, and chose their own commanders. 
On the 4th of February, they heard that two hundred Indians were 
in the swamps near Deerfield, and marched to attack them. The In- 
dians were completely surprised, and one hundred and twenty of them 
killed. The English, on their return, were attacked by another body 
of Indians, and, having expended all their ammunition, fell an easy 
prey. Fifty were killed, and eighty-four wounded. But the Indians 
were severely defeated in an attack on Hatfield. 

On the 20th of February, Captain Henchman, with one hundred 
men, attacked a party of Indians near Brookfield, under the immediate 
command of Philip, killed about fifty, and captured sixty squaws and 
children. A portion of the Indians now fled to the Mohawks in the 
West, but were driven back by those staunch friends of the English. 
Philip had still a considerable force under his command, though so 
many of his warriors had bitten the dust. If his men had possessed a 



KING PHILIP S WAR. 



645 




Indian council. 



sufScient supply of fire-arms, they might have yet made ground against 
their white foes. But there were not more than a hundred guns to a 
thousand men, and ammunition was very scarce. Under these cir- 
cumstances, the efforts of the great chief were made terrible by des- 
peration. In April, Hadley was threatened with destruction ; but 
this was warded off by the arrival of Major Talcott with some troops 
and an eight-pound cannon. On the 5th of September, Major Tal- 
cott, with a force of English and Mohegans, attacked and nearly de- 
stroyed about three hundred of Philip's Indians at Narragansett. 
One hundred and fifty Indians, among whom was the wife of Philip, 
were captured at Pautuxet on the 15th of September ; and the next 
day seventy more were captured near Dedham. In the struggle 
which preceded this capture, Pomham, a warrior renowned for 
strength, courage, and activity, was slain. Famine now compelled 
many of the enemy to surrender to the English, and they came in 
daily. But Philip was undaunted by all his losses, and even struck 
dead a man who proposed to negotiate with the whites. 



646 KING Philip's war. 



On the 12th of October, Captain Benjamin Church, with fifty 
troops and a few friendly Indians, defeated a party of the Indians 
near Providence ; and on the next day discovered a considerable body 
of them in a swamp near Pomfret. They were summoned to sur- 
render, and replied by a discharge of arrows. The English gave 
ground, but Church rallied them, and rushed upon the enemy so fu- 
riously that they were dislodged and routed. About thirty Indians 
were killed and sixty or seventy wounded. The English had seven 
killed and fourteen wounded. 

On the 20th, the governor and council received information that 
King Philip, who had been for a long time lurking about Mount 
Hope, the seat of his ancestors, disheartened by the defeat of his 
plans and the losses he had suffered, was, the preceding morning, dis- 
covered in a swamp near that place, attended by about ninety Sea- 
conet Indians. Captain Church, with his brave band-, was immedi- 
ately sent in pursuit. On the 27th, they arrived in the neighbour- 
hood of the swamp. Captain Church then stationed several Mohegans 
and Seaconets at the border of it, to intercept Philip in case he should 
attempt to escape, while he, with his Englishmen, plunged into the 
swamp, and, after wading waist-deep, discovered the foe. The In- 
dians, surprised, fled in every direction. Philip, in trying to fly, was 
recognised by one of the English who had been left with the Mohe- 
gans to intercept him. The Englishman levelled his piece, but the 
priming was Vv^et, and it Avould not go off. An Indian — the brother 
of him Philip had killed for proposing to make peace — then shot the 
sachem through the heart. But few of the hostile Indians escaped. 
The head of Philip was severed from his body and sent to the governor 
and council at Boston, to be preserved as a trophy, and the body was 
mutilated by the Mohegans. The Avar virtually ended with the death 
of its creator and supporter. Several skirmishes afterward occurred, 
but they were the death-groans of the Indian power. Numbers of 
them came in daily, and peace was soon restored in all quarters, in 
consequence of the activity of Church and his band. 

During the war, the English had suffered much. The progress of 
the colonies was materially retarded, and a large number of valuable 
lives were expended. Property to an immense amount was destroyed. 
But the Indians were nearly exterminated in the vicinity of the colo- 
nies. The mighty genius of Philip strove to avert that doom, but 
failed for the want of fortunate circumstances to aid it. However we 
may condemn his cruelty and treachery, we cannot but admire his 
dauntless perseverance and patriotic exertions. 




Death of Zing Philip. 




2/^^^^ 



Pioneers entering Kentucky. 




BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 




ENTUCKY was first visited by the whites 
about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. James Finley has the credit of 
being the first adventurer. He traversed 
the country, and returned to North Caro- 
lina in 1767. The famous Daniel Boone, 
impelled by a restless disposition and the 
glowing accounts of the country given by 
Finley, visited it, in company with his 
brother, in 1769. These hardy adven- 
turers traversed the territory, seeing no Indians, and finding game 
in plenty. In the next year, a party led by Col. James Knox thoroughly 
explored the middle and southern regions of Kentucky. On their re- 
turn, they spread glowing accounts of the fertility of the soil, and 
healthiness of the climate. Boone headed another party which was 
in Kentucky at the same time as Knox's. On this exploration he 
was harassed by the Indians, and one of his companions, named Stuart, 
was killed by them. 

In the summer of 1774, several parties of surveyors and hunters 
entered Kentucky ; and during this year James Harrod erected a log 
cabin upon the spot where Harrodsburg now stands, which rapidly 

651 



652 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKr. 



grew into a station, probably tbe oldest in Kentucky. During this 
year, Colonel Richard Henderson purchased from the Cherokee In- 
dians the whole country south of Kentucky river. His purchase was 
subsequently declared null and void by the legislature of Virginia, 
which claimed the sole right to purchase land from the Indians within 
the bounds of the royal charter ; but great activity was displayed by 
Henderson in taking possession of his new empire, and granting land 
to settlers, before the act of the Virginia legislature overturned all his 
schemes. Daniel Boone was employed by him to survey the country, 
and select favourable positions ; and, early in the spring of 1775, the 
foundation of Boonsborough was laid, under the title of Henderson. 
From the 22d of March to the 14th of April, Boone was actively en- 
gaged in constructing the fort afterward called Boonsborough, during 
which time his party was exposed to four fierce attacks from the In- 
dians. By the middle of April the fort was completed, and within 
two months from that time his wife and daughters joined him, and 
resided in the fort, — the first white women who ever stood upon the 
banks of the Kentucky river. From this time, Boonsborough and 
Harrodsburg became the nucleus and support of emigration and set- 
tlement in Kentucky. In 1775, the renowned pioneer, Simon Ken- 
ton, erected a log cabin, and raised a crop of corn in the county of 
Mason, upon the spot where the town of Washington now stands, and 
continued to occupy the spot until the fall of that year, when he 
removed to Boonsborough. 

Boone's settlement and Harrodsburg were constantly exposed to 
the attacks of the savages, who seemed determined to drive the whites 
from the country, if possible. Stragglers were killed or captured, 
and the greatest strictness of discipline at the stations became necessary 
for safety. In 1777, Kentucky was invaded by a very large Indian 
force, and Harrodsburg, Boonsborough, and Logan's fort were in 
succession furiously assailed. The hunters and surveyors were driven 
to take shelter in the forts. Much injury was done to the property 
of the whites, but the forts could not be captured without artillery, 
which the red men did not possess. After the Indians had retreated, 
a reinforcement of one hundred and forty-five men arrived in Ken- 
tucky, and afforded great relief to Boone, Logan, and their brave 
companions. 

A brief period of repose now followed, in which the settlers en- 
deavoured to repair the damages done to their farms. But a period 
of heavy trial to Boone and his family was approaching. In January, 
1778, accompanied by thirty men, Boone went to the Blue Licks to 
make salt for the difi'erent stations ; and on the 7th of February fol- 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



655 




lowing, while out hunting, he fell in with one hundred and two Indian 
warriors, on their march to attack Boonsborough. He instantly fled, 
but, being upwards of fifty years old, was unable to contend with the 
fleet young men who pursued him, and was a second time taken pri- 
soner. As usual, he was treated with kindness until his final fate was 
determined, and was led back to the Licks, where his men were still 
encamped. Here his whole party, to the number of twenty-seven, 
surrendered themselves, upon promise of life and good treatment, both 
of which conditions were faithfully observed. 

Had the Indians prosecuted their enterprise, they might, perhaps, 
by showing their prisoners, and threatening to put them to the torture, 
have operated so far upon the sympathies of the garrisons as to have 



656 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



obtained considerable results. But nothing of the kind was attempted. 
They had already been unexpectedly successful ; and it is their custom, 
after good or bad fortune, immediately to return home and enjoy their 
triumph, or lament their ill success. Boone and his party were con- 
ducted to the old town of Chillicothe, where they remained until the 
following March. No journal was written during this period by 
either Boone or his party. We are only informed that his mild and 
patient equanimity wrought powerfully upon the Indians ; that he 
was adopted into a family, and uniformly treated with the utmost 
affection. One fact is given us which shows his acute observation 
and knowledge of mankind. At the various shooting matches to which 
he was invited, he took care not to beat them too often. He knew 
that no feeling is more painful than that of inferiority, and that the 
most eflfectual way of keeping them in a good humour with 1dm was 
to keep them in a good humour with themselves. He, therefore, only 
shot well enough to make it an honour to beat him, and found him- 
self a universal favourite. * 

Boone was conducted to Detroit in March, 1778. At that place. 
Governor Hamilton and several English gentlemen offered very high 
ransoms for him, but the Indians refused to part with him. After 
his return to the Indian towns, Boone found a numerous body of war- 
riors collected for an expedition against the Kentucky settlements. 
This determined him to make an effort to escape. He lulled the sus- 
picions of the savages by pretending to be contented, and hunting and 
sporting with them, till the morning of the 16th of June, when he 
left Chillicothe and struck out for Boonsborough. He performed the 
distance of one hundred and sixty miles in four days, during -nhich 
time he ate but one meal. The arrival of the father of the settlement 
was opportune. His wife and children, thinking him^dead, had gone 
to North Carolina. His men, suspecting no danger, were dispersed at 
their employments. The fort was strengthened, ammunition procured, 
and every thing prepared in haste for the attack. As the Indians 
delayed their expedition, Boone concluded they had abandoned it, 
and he determined "to carry the war into Africa." 

The enterprising woodsman selected nineteen men, and marched 
silently and rapidly against the town of Paint Creek, on the Scioto. 
Within four miles of that town he met a party of thirty Indians, whom 
he attacked and defeated, killing several men, and losing none himself. 
Finding the village deserted, Boone concluded the Indians had gone on 
their grand expedition. His object now was to reach Boonsborough 

* McClung. 



BOEDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



657 




Cajitaia Duquesne. 



before them. This he effected by a circuitous march, which was made 
with great celerity. 

The day after the arrival of Boone, the Indians appeared. It was 
then ascertained that they were aided by Canadian officers, skilled in 
war, and commanded by Captain Duquesne. The British colours were 
displayed, and the suirender of the fort demanded. Boone requested 
two days for consideration, v/hich the British commander was shallow 
enough to grant. Of course, the interval was employed by the gar- 
rison in preparing for a determined resistance. At the expiration of 
the granted time, Boone announced to Captain Duquesne his resolution. 
The British commander then proposed, that if nine men of the prin- 
cipal inhabitants would come out on the plain and treat with them, 
this army of warriors would depart without further hostilities. The 
object of this proposal was clear. But Boone, with singular lack of 
penetration, accepted it. With eight of his men, he went out and 
treated with Duquesne. The Indians then attempted to carry him 
away, but he broke from them, and fled to the fort amid a shower of 
bullets. One of his men was wounded. The attack was instantly 

42 



658 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



commenced. The assailants exhausted the ordinary stratagems of In- 
dian warfare, but were repulsed with loss in every effort. At length, 
seeing no prospect of success, they raised the siege and returned home. 
The loss of the garrison was two killed and four wounded ; that of the 
enemy was thirty-seven killed, and many wounded. This was the last 
attack on Boonsborough. The number of stations between that place 
and the Ohio prevented the savages from reaching it without leaving 
an enemy in the rear. 

The adventures of some of the pioneers of Kentucky are thrilling, 
and illustrate characters as daring and as circumspect as history can 
afford. Among the most distinguished for a love of adventure was 
Simon Kenton. He arrived in Kentucky soon after Boone, and sus- 
tained two sieges in Boonsborough. He also served as a spy with 
dilin-ence and success. But Kenton was on some occasions more con- 
spicuous for daring than prudence. Soon after the last siege of 
Boonsborough, Kenton, Montgomery, and Clark were ordered by 
Colonel Bowman to go on a reconnoitering expedition to tlie towns on 
the Little Miami, against which Bowman meditated an expedition. 
Their adventures and misfortunes, which give a clear idea of border 
life, are thus narrated by McClung, in his Sketches of Western 
Adventure : 

They instantly set out, in obedience to their orders, and reached 
tlie neighbourhood of the town without being discovered. They ex- 
amined it attentively, and walked around the houses during the night 
with perfect impunity. Thus far all had gone well ; and had they 
been contented to return after the duo execution of their orders, they 
would have avoided the heavy calamity which awaited them. 

But, unfortunately, during their nightly promenade, they stumbled 
upon a pound in which Vv^ere a number of Indian horses. The tempta- 
tion was not to be resisted. They each mounted a horse, but, not 
satisfied with that, they could not find it in their hearts to leave a 
single animal behind them, and as some of the horses seemed indis- 
posed to change masters, the affair was attended M'ith so much fracas, 
that at last they were discovered. The cry ran through the village at 
once, that the Long Knives were stealing their horses right before the 
doors of their wigwams, and old and young, squaws, boys, and war- 
riors, all sallied out with loud screams to save their property from 
these greedy spoilers. Kenton and his friends quickly discovered 
that they had overshot the mark, and that they must ride for their 
lives ; but even in this extremity, they could not bring themselves to 
give up a single horse which they had haltered, and while two of them 
rode in front and led, I know not how many horses, the other brought 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 661 



up the rear, and plying his Avhip from right to left, did not permit a 
single animal to lao; behind. 

In this manner they dashed through the 'woods at a furious rate, 
•with the hue and cry after them, until their course "was suddenly 
stopped by an impenetrable swamp. Here, from necessity, they 
paused for a few moments and listened attentively. Hearing no 
sounds of pursuit, they resumed their course, and skirting the swamp 
for some distance, in the vain hope of crossing it, they bent their 
course in a straight direction toward the Ohio. They rode during the 
■whole night "without resting a moment ; and halting for a few minutes 
at daylight, they continued their journey throughout the day, and the 
"whole of the following night, and by this uncommon expedition, on 
the morning of the second day, they reached the northern bank of the 
Ohio. 

Crossing the river "would now ensure their safety, but this "was 
likely to prove a diflScult undertaking, and the close pursuit which they 
had reason to expect rendered it necessary to lose as little time as 
possible. The "wind was high, and the river rough and boisterous. It 
was determined that Kenton should cross with the horses, while Clark 
and Montgomery should construct a raft in order to transport their 
guns, baggage, and ammunition to the opposite shore. The necessary 
preparations were soon made, and Kenton, after forcing his horses 
into the river, plunged in himself and swam by their side. In a very 
few minutes, the high waves completely overwhelmed him, and forced 
him considerably below the horses, that stemmed the current much 
more. vigorously than himself. 

The horses, being thus left to themselves, turned about, and swam 
again to the Ohio shore, where Kenton was compelled to follow them. 
Again he forced them into the water, and again they returned to the 
same spot, until Kenton became so exhausted by repeated efforts as to 
be unable to swim. A council was then held, and the question pro- 
posed, "What was to be done?" That the Indians would pursue 
them, was certain ; that the horses would not and could not be made 
to cross the river in its present state, was equally certain. Should 
they abandon their horses and cross on the raft, or remain with their 
horses and take such fortune as heaven should send them ? The latter 
alternative was unanimously adopted. Death or captivity might be 
tolerated, but the loss of so beautiful a lot of horses, after having 
worked so hard for them, was not to be thought of for a moment. 

As soon as it was determined that themselves and horses were to 
share the same fate, it again became necessary to fix upon some pro- 
bable plan of saving them. Should they move up or down the river, 



662 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



or remain where they were ? The latter course was adopted. It was 
supposed that the wind would fall at sunset, and the river become 
sufficiently calm to admit of their passage, and as it was supposed 
probable that the Indians might be upon them before night, it was 
determined to conceal the horses in a neighbouring ravine, while they 
should take their stations in the adjoining wood. A more miserable 
plan could not have been adopted. If they could not consent to sacri- 
fice their horses, in order to save their own lives, they should have 
moved either up or down the river, and thus have preserved the dis- 
tance from the Indians which their rapidity of movement had gained. 

The Indians would have followed their trail, and being twenty-four 
hours march behind them, could never have overtaken them. But 
neglecting this obvious consideration, they stupidly sat down until 
sunset, expecting that the river would become more calm. The day 
passed away in tranquillity, but at night the wind blew harder than 
ever, and the water became so rough, that even their raft would have 
been scarcely able to cross. Not an instant more should have been lost 
in moving from so dangerous a post ; but as if totally infatuated, they 
remained where they were until morning ; thus wasting twenty-four 
hours of most precious time in total idleness. In the morning the 
wind abated, and the river became calm ; but it was now too late. 
Their horses, recollecting the difficulty of the passage on the preceding 
day, had become as obstinate and heedless as their masters, and posi- 
tively and repeatedly refused to take the water. 

Finding every effort to compel them entirely unavailing, their mas- 
ters at length determined to do what ought to have been done at first. 
Each resolved to mount a horse and make the best of his way down 
the river to Louisville. Had even this resolution, however tardily 
adopted, been executed with decision, the party would probably have 
been saved ; but after they were mounted, instead of leaving the ground 
instantly, they went back upon their own trail, in the vain effort to 
regain possession of the rest of their horses, which had broken from 
them in the last effort to drive them into the water. They wearied 
out their good genius, and literally fell victims to their love for horse- 
flesh. 

They had scarcely ridden one hundred yards, (Kenton in the cen- 
tre, the others upon the flanks, with an interval of two hundred yards 
between thexu,) when Kenton heard a loud halloo, apparently coming 
from the spot v/hich they had just left. Instead of getting out of the 
way as fast as possible, and trusting to the speed of his horse and the 
thickness of the wood for safety, he put the last capping stone to his 
imprudence, and, dismounting, walked leisurely back to meet his pur- 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 663 

beSlThtf rr' ""T "' ''^*^™"'' - possible. He quickly 
beheld tkee Indmns and one white man, all well mounted. Wishing 
gu-e ha alarm to hi^ companions, he raised his rifle to hs shoulder" 

tnggei. His gun had become wet on the raft, and flashed 

The enemy were mstantly alarmed, and dashed at him. Now at 

last when fl.ght could be of no service, Kenton betook himself tl'hfa 
heels and was pursued by four horsemen at full speed. He nstantlv 
directed b.s steps to the thickest part of the wood, where there w- 
eTt h tul " ^f « '•"'^'. S^"''-'" "' ™<'-wood and had srce! ! 
It ZnnZt' '" 1 /"= '"' r '""''' "''""■ J"^' »« he was leaving 
the fallen timber and entering the open wood, an Indian on horseback 
gal oped round the corner of the wood, and aroroaehed him sr ^pi 1 y 
as to rende, .flight useless. The horseman rode up, holding 2tl 
hand and calling out "Brother! brother!" in a tone of great affe 

hat .Ctrerfd-^'h" ^V' t »""" '""" '-™ -'=« «'' '^ ™"^ 
nave brotheud him to his heart's content, but being totallv un- 
armed, he called out that he would surrender if they would rich" 
quarter and good treatment. ^ *■ 

Promises were cheap with the Indian, and he showered them out by 
he dozen continuing all the while to advance with extended hands 
and a ™thi„g g„n upon his countenance, which was intended for a 
mile of courtesy. Seizing Kenton's hand, he grasped it whh v o 

rknockT-"'°d' "'°' '"T' ""^ """""^ °f "^ captoi'raised hi ;„: 
knock hini down, when an Indian who Iiad followed him clotlv 

ht°ats : :r'^"r"'^r'"""^ ^"^^ "p™ '■■^ ^-"^ »-' p='"»»^ 

s Ice h m bv ;; ■• rr, T'?" '^^ J"^' "PP^"^*"' l'^- 'ten 
re t o tl !^ , "■■ ""'' '^""^ ''™ ""'" ^"' '««* rattled, while the 
rest of the party coming up, they all fell upon Kenton ^ith their 

to death. They were the owners of the horses which he had carried 
off, and now took ample revenge for the loss of their property It 
every stroke of their ramrods over his head, (and they we ndtht 
fow nor far hetween,) they would repeat in a tone of sionrin^n 
tion, "Steal Indian boss!! hey!!" »""Uo ""-"gna- 

Their attention, however, was soon directed to Montgomery who 
having heard tlie noise attending Kenton's capture, vtry "al alt W 
hastened tjp to his assistance ; while Clark very prudently con uU d 
bis own safety m betaking himself to his hecls,^Lvi„g bis u^f tu 
nate companions to shift for themselves. Monlgomeiyha led whhin 
gunshot and appeared busy with the pan of his^gun, L if prepLtg 
to £■ e. Two Indians instantly sprang off in pursuit of him, while the 



664 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



rest attended to Kenton. In a few minutes Kenton heard the crack 
of two rifles in quick succession, followed by a halloo, which announced 
the fate of his friend. The Indians quickly returned, waving the 
bloody scalp of Montgomery, and with countenances and gestures 
which menaced him with a similar fate. 

They then proceeded to secure their prisoner. They first compelled 
him to lie upon his back, and stretched out his arms to their full 
length. They then passed a stout stick at right angles across his 
breast, to each extremity of which his wrists were fastened by thongs 
made of buff'alo's hide. Stakes were then driven into the earth, near 
his feet, to which they were fastened in a similar manner. A halter 
was then tied around his neck, and fastened to a sapling which grew 
near, and finally a strong rope was passed under his belly, lashed 
strongly to the pole which lay transversely upon his breast, and 
wrapped around his arms at the elbows, in such a manner as to pinion 
them to the pole with a painful violence, and render him literally in- 
capable of moving hand, foot, or head, in the slightest manner. 

During the whole of this severe operation, neither their tongues nor 
hands were by any means idle. They cuffed him from time to time 
with great heartiness, until his ears rang again, and abused him for a 

'< tief ! — a boss steal ! — a rascal !" and finally, for a " d d white 

man !" I may here observe, that all the western Indians had picked 
up a good many English words, particularly our oaths, which, from 
the frequency with which they were used by our hunters and traders, 
they probably looked upon as the very root and foundation of the 
English language. Kenton remained in this painful attitude through- 
out the night, looking forward to certain death, and most probably 
torture, as soon as he should reach their towns. Their rage against 
him seemed to increase rather than abate from indulgence, and in the 
morning it displayed itself in a form at once ludicrous and cruel. 

Among the horses which Kenton had taken, and which their origi- 
nal owners had now recovered, was a fine but wild young colt, totally 
unbroken, and with all his honours of mane and tail undocked. Upon 
him, Kenton was mounted, without saddle or bridle, with his hands 
tied behind him, and his feet fastened under the horse's belly. The 
country was rough and bushy, and Kenton had no means of protecting 
his face from the brambles, through which it was expected that the 
colt would dash. As soon as the rider was firmly fastened to his back, 
the colt was turned loose with a sudden lash, but after exerting a few 
curvets and caprioles, to the great distress of his rider, but to the 
infinite amusement of the Indians, he appeared to take compassion on 
his rider, and falling into a line with the other horses, avoided the 



BOEDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 665 



brambles entirely, and went on very well. In this manner he rode 
through the day. At night he was taken from the horse and confined 
as before. 

On the third day they came within a few miles of Chillicothe. Here 
the party halted, and despatched a messenger to inform the village of 
their arrival, in order, I suppose, to give them time to prepare for his 
reception. In a short time Blackfish, one of their chiefs, arrived, and 
regarding Kenton with a stern countenance, thundered out in very 
good English, " You have been stealing horses ?" " Yes, sir." " Did 
Captain Boone tell you to steal our horses ?" " No, sir, I did it of my 
own accord." This frank confession was too irritating to be borne. 
Blackfish made no reply, but brandishing a hickory switch, which he 
held in his hand, he applied it so briskly to Kenton's naked back and 
shoulders, as to bring the blood freely, and occasion acute pain. 

Thus, alternately beaten and scolded, he marched on to the village. 
At the distance of a mile from Chillicothe, he saw every inhabitant 
of the town, men, women and children, running out to feast their 
eyes with a view of the prisoner. Every individual, down to the 
smallest child, appeared in a paroxysm of rage. They whooped, they 
yelled, they hooted, they clapped their hands, and poured upon him a 
flood of abuse, to which all that he had yet received was gentleness 
and civility. With loud cries, they demanded that their prisoner 
should be tied to the stake. The hint was instantly complied with. 

A stake was quickly fastened into the ground. The remnant of 
Kenton's shirt and breeches were torn from his person, (the squaws 
officiating with great dexterity in both operations,) and his hands being 
tied together, and raised above his head, were fastened to the top of 
the stake. The whole party then danced around him until midnight, 
yelling and screaming in their usual frantic manner, striking him with 
switches, and slapping him with the palms of their hands. He ex- 
pected every moment to undergo the torture of fire, but that was re- 
served for another time. They wished to prolong the pleasure of tor- 
menting him as much as possible, and after having caused him to an- 
ticipate the bitterness of death until a late hour of the night, they 
released him from the stake and conveyed him to the village. 

Early in the morning he beheld the scalp of Montgomery stretched 
upon a hoop, and drying in the air before the door of one of their 
principal houses. He was quickly led out, and ordered to lun the 
gauntlet. A row of boys, women, and men, extended to the distance 
of a quarter of a mile. At the starting-place stood two grim-looking 
warriors, with butcher knives in their hands ; at the extremity of the 
line was an Indian beating a drum ; and a few paces beyond the drum 



666 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



•was the door of the council-house. Clubs, switches, hoe-handles, and 
tomahawks were brandished along the whole line, causing the sweat 
involuntarily to stream from his pores, at the idea of the discipline 
which his naked skin was to receive during the race. 

The moment for starting arrived ; the great drum at the door of 
the council-house was struck, and Kenton sprang forward in the race. 
Kenton avoided the row of his enemies, and turning to the east, drew 
the whole party in pursuit of him. He doubled several times with 
great activity, and at length observing an opening, he darted through 
it, and pressed forward to the council-house with a rapidity which left 
his pursuers far behind. One or two of the Indians succeeded in 
throwing themselves between him and the goal, and from these alone 
he received a few blows, but was much less injured than he could at 
first have supposed possible. 

As soon as the race was over, a council was held in order to deter- 
mine Avhether he should be burnt to death on the spot, or carried 
round to the other villages, and exhibited to every tribe. The arbi- 
ters of his fate sat in a circle on the floor of the council-house, while 
the unhappy prisoner, naked and bound, was committed to the care 
of a guard in the open air. The deliberation commenced. Each war- 
rior sat in silence, while a large war-club was passed round the circle. 
Those who were opposed to burning the prisoner on the spot were to 
pass the club in silence to the next warrior, those in favour of burning 
were to strike the earth violently with the club before passing it. 

A teller was appointed to count the votes. This dignitary quickly 
reported that the opposition had prevailed ; that his execution was 
suspended for the present ; and that it was determined to take him to 
an Indian tow^n on Blad river called Waughcotomoco. His fate was 
quickly announced to him by a renegade white man, who acted as 
interpreter. Kenton felt rejoiced at the issue, but naturally became 
anxious to know what was in reserve for him at Waughcotomoco. He 
accordingly asked the white man " what the Indians intended to do with 
him upon reaching the appointed place ?" "Burn you ! G — d d — n 
you !" was the ferocious reply. He asked no further question, and 
the scowling interpreter walked away. 

Instantly preparations were made for his departure, and to his great 
joy as well as astonishment, his clothes were restored to him, and he 
was permitted to remain unbound. Thanks to the ferocious intimation 
of the interpreter, he was aware of the fate in reserve for him, and 
secretly determined that he would never reach Waughcotomoco alive 
if it was possible to avoid it. Their route lay through an unpruned 
forest, abounding in thickets and undergrowth. Unbound as he was, 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 667 



it would not be impossible to escape from tlie hands of his conductors ; 
and if he could once enter the thickets, he thought that he might be 
enabled to baffle his pursuers. At the worst, he could only be retaken ; 
and the fire would burn no hotter after an attempt to escape than 
before. During the whole of their march he remained abstracted and 
silent ; often meditating an effort for liberty, and as often shrinking 
from the peril of the attempt. 

At length he was aroused from his revery by the Indians firing ofi" 
their guns, and raising the shrill scalp halloo. The signal was soon 
answered, and the deep roll of a drum was heard far in front, an- 
nouncing to the unhappy prisoner that they were approaching an In- 
dian town, where the gauntlet, certainly, and perhaps the stake awaited 
him. The idea of a repetition of the dreadful scenes which he had 
already encountered completely banished the indecision which had 
hitherto withheld him, asd with a sudden and startling cry he sprang 
into the bushes and fled with the speed of a wild deer. The pursuit 
was instant and keen, some on foot, some on horseback. But he was 
flying for his life ; the stake and the hot iron, and the burning splin- 
ters, were before his eyes, and he soon distanced the swiftest hunter 
that pursued him. 

But fate was against him at every turn. Thinking only of the 
enemy behind, he forgot that there might also be enemies before ; 
and before he was aware of what he had done, he found that he had 
plunged into the centre of a fresh party of horsemen, who had sallied 
from the town at the firing of the guns, and happened, unfortunately, 
to stumble upon the poor prisoner, now making a last efibrt for free- 
dom. His heart sank at once from the ardour of hope to the very pit 
of despair, and he was again haltered and driven before them to the 
town, like an ox to the slaughter-house. 

Upon reaching the village, (Pickaway,) he was fastened to a stake near 
the door of the council-house, and the warriors again assembled in de- 
bate. In a short time they issued from the council-house, and, sur- 
rounding him, they danced, yelled, &c. for several hours, giving him once 
more a foretaste of the bitterness of death. On the following morning 
their journey was continued, but the Indians had now become watch- 
ful, and gave him no opportunity of even attempting an escape. On 
the second day, he arrived at Waughcotomoco. • Here he was again 
compelled to run the gauntlet, in which he was severely hurt ; and 
immediately after this ceremony he was taken to the council-house, 
and all the warriors once more assembled to determine his fate. 

He sat silent and dejected upon the floor of the cabin, awaiting the 
moment which was to deliver him to the stake, when the door of the 



668 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 




Simon Girty. 

council-house opened, and Simon Girty, James Girty, John Ward, and 
an Indian came in with a woman, (Mrs. Mary Kennedy,) as a prisoner, 
together with seven chiklren and seven scalps. Kenton was instantly 
removed from the council-house, and the deliberations of the assembly 
were protracted to a very late hour, in consequence of the arrival of 
the last-named party with a fresh drove of prisoners. 

At length he was again summoned to attend the council-house, being 
informed that his fate was decided. Regarding the mandate as a mere 
prelude to the stake and fire, which he knew Avere intended for him, he 
obeyed it with the calm despair which had now succeeded iSie burning 
anxiety of the last few days. Upon entering the council-house he 
was greeted with a savage scowl, which, if he had still cherished a 
spark of hope, would have completely extinguished it. Simon Girty 
threw a blanket upon the floor, and harshly ordered him to take a seat 
upon it. The order was not immediately complied with, and Girty 
impatiently seizing his arm, jerked him roughly upon the blanket, 
and pulled him down upon it. 



BOEDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 669 



In the same rough and menacing tone, Girty then interrogated him 
as to the condition of Kentucky- " How many men are there in 
Kentucky ?" " It is impossible for me to answer that question," re- 
plied Kenton, " but I can tell you the number of oflBcers and their 
respective ranks ; you can then judge for yourself." " Do you know 
William Stewart?" " Perfectly well ; he is an old and intimate ac- 
quaintance." " What is your own name ?" " Simon Butler !" replied 
Kenton. Never did the annunciation of a name produce a more pow- 
erful effect. Girty and Kenton (then bearing the name of Butler) 
had served as spies together in Dunmore's expedition. The former 
had not then abandoned the society of the whites for that of the 
savages, and had become warmly attached to Kenton during the short 
period of their services together. As soon as he heard the name he 
became strongly agitated ; and, springing from his seat, he threw his 
arms around Kenton's neck, and embraced him Avith much emotion. 

Then turning to the assembled warriors, who remained astonished 
spectators of this extraordinary scene, he addressed them in a short 
speech, which the deep earnestness of his tone and the energy of 
his gesture rendered eloquent. He informed them that the prisoner, 
whom they had just condemned to the stake, was his ancient comrade 
and bosom friend ; that they had travelled the same war-path, slept 
upon the same blanket, and dwelt in the same wigwam. He entreated 
them to have compassion upon his feelings ; to spare him the agony 
of witnessing the torture of an old friend by the hands of his adopted 
brothers ; and not to refuse so trijQing a favour as the life of a white 
man, to the earnest intercession of one who had proved by three years' 
faithful service, that he was sincerely and zealously devoted to the 
cause of the Indians. 

The speech was listened to in unbroken silence. As soon as he 
had finished, several chiefs expressed their approbation by a deep 
guttural interjection, while others were equally as forward in making 
known their objections to the proposal. They urged that his fate had 
already been determined in a large and solemn council, and that they 
would be acting like squaws to change their minds every hour. They 
insisted upon the flagrant misdemeanors of Kenton ; that he had not 
only stolen their horses, but had flashed his gun at one of their young 
men ; that it was in vain to suppose that so bad a man could ever be- 
come an Indian at heart, like their brother Girty; that the Ken- 
tuckians were all alike, very bad people, and ought to be killed as fast 
as they were taken ; and, finally, they observed that many of their peo- 
ple had come from a distance, solely to assist at the torture of the 
prisoner, and pathetically painted the disappointment and chagrin with 



670 BORDER AVARS OF KENTUCKY. 



■wliich they would hear that all their trouble had been for nothing. 
Fresh speakers arose upon each side, and the debate was carried 
on for an hour and a half with great heat and energy. During the 
whole of this time, Kenton's feelings may readily be imagined. He 
could not understand a syllable of what was said. lie saw that Girty 
spoke with deep earnestness, and that the eyes of the assembly were 
often turned upon himself with various expressions. He felt satisfied 
that his friend was pleading for his life, and that he was violently 
opposed by a large part of the council. At length, the war-club was 
produced and the final vote taken. Kenton watched its progress with 
thrilling emotion, which yielded to the most rapturous delight, as he 
perceived, that those who struck the floor of the council-house were 
decidedly inferior in number to those who passed it in silence. Having 
thus succeeded in his benevolent purpose, Girty lost no time in at- 
tending to the comfort of his friend. He led him into his own wigwam, 
and from his own store gave him a pair of moccasins and leggins, a 
breech-cloth, a hat, a coat, a handkerchief for his neck, and another 
for his head. 

For the space of three Aveeks, Kenton lived in perfect tranquillity. 
Girty's kindness was uniform and indefatigable. He introduced Ken- 
ton to his own family, and accompanied him to the wigwams of the 
principal chiefs, Avho seemed all at once to have turned from the ex- 
tremity of rage to the utmost kindness and cordiality. Fortune, how- 
ever, seemed to have selected him for her football, and to have snatched 
him from the frying-pan only to throw him into the fire. About 
twenty days after his most providential deliverance from the stake, 
he was walking in company with Girty and an Indian named Redpole, 
Avhen another Indian came from the village toAvards them, uttering 
repeatedly a whoop of peculiar intonation. Girty instantly told Ken- 
ton that it Avas the distress halloo, and that they must all go instantly 
to the council-house. Kenton's heart involuntarily fluttered at the 
intelligence, for he dreaded all whoops, and hated all council-houses, 
firmly believing that neither boded him any good. Nothing, hoAv- 
ever, could be done, to avoid whatever fate awaited him, and he 
sadly accompanied Girty and Redpole back to the village. 

Upon approaching the Indian who had hallooed, Girty and Redpole 
shook hands with him. Kenton likcAvise offered his hand, but the 
Indian refused to take it, at the same time scoAvling upon him omi- 
nously. This took place Avithin a fcAV paces of the door of the council- 
house. Upon entering, they saAV that the house aa^is unusually full. 
Many chiefs and warriors from the distant toAvns Avere present ; and 
their countenances were grave, severe, and forbidding. Girty, Redpole, 



BORDER WARS OP KENTUCKY. 671 



and Kenton walked around, offering their hands successively to each 
warrior. The hands of the first two were cordially received ; but when 
poor Kenton anxiously offered his hand to the first warrior, it was re- 
jected with the same scowling eye as before. He passed on to the 
second, but was still rejected : he persevered, however, until his hand 
had been refused by the first six ; when, sinking into despondence, he 
turned off and stood apart from the rest. 

The debate quickly commenced. Kenton looked eagerly towards 
Girty, as his last and only hope. His friend looked anxious and dis- 
tressed. The chiefs from a distance arose one after another, and 
spoke in a firm and indignant tone, often looking at Kenton with an 
eye of death. Girty did not desert him, but his eloquence appeared 
wasted upon the distant chiefs. After a warm debate, he turned to 
Kenton and said, "Well! my friend! you raust dieT' One of the 
stranger chiefs instantly seized him by the collar, and the others sur- 
rounding him, he was strongly pinioned, committed to a guard, and 
instantly marched off. 

His guard was on horseback, while the prisoner was driven before 
them on foot, Avith a long rope round his neck, the other end of which 
was held by one of the guard. In this manner they had marched about 
two and a half miles, when Girty passed them on horseback, informing 
Kenton that he had friends at the next village, with whose aid he 
hoped to be able to do something for him. Girty passed on to the 
town, but finding that nothing could be done, he would not see his 
friend again, but returned to Waughcotoraoco by a different route. 

They passed through the village without halting, and at the distance 
of two and a half miles beyond it, Kenton had again an opportunity 
of witnessing the fierce hate with which these children of nature regard 
an enemy. At the distance of a few paces from the road, a squaw 
was busily engaged in chopping wood, while her lord and master was 
sitting on a log, smoking his pipe and directing her labours, with the 
indolent indifference common to the natives when not under the influ- 
ence of some exciting passion. The sight of Kenton, however, seemed 
to rouse him to fury. He hastily sprang up, with a sudden yell, 
snatched the axe from the squaw, and rushing upon the prisoner so 
rapidly as to give him no opportunity of escape, dealt him a blow with 
the axe which cut through his shoulder, breaking the bone, and almost 
severing the arm from his body. He would instantly have repeated 
the blow, had not Kenton's conductors interfered and protected him, 
severely reprimanding the Indian for attempting to rob them of the 
amusement of torturing the prisoner. 

They soon reached a large village upon the head-waters of Scioto, 



672 BORDER "WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



where Kenton, for the first time, beheld the celebrated Mingo chief 
Logan, so honourably mentioned in Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. 
Logan walked gravely up to the place where Kenton stood, and the 
following short conversation ensued : " Well, young man, these young 
men seem very mad at you?" "Yes, sir, they certainly are." "Well, 
don't be disheartened ; I am a great chief; you are to go to Sandusky : 
they speak of burning you there, but I will send two runners to-morrow 
to speak good for you." Logan's form was striking and manly, his 
countenance calm and noble, and he spoke the English language with 
fluency and correctness. Kenton's spirits instantly rose at the address 
of the benevolent chief, and he once more looked upon himself as pro- 
videntially rescued from the stake. 

On the following morning, two runners were despatched to San- 
dusky, as the chief had promised, and until their return Kenton was 
kindly treated, being permitted to spend much of his time with Logan, 
who conversed with him freely, and in the most friendly manner. In 
the evening, the two runners returned, and were closeted with Logan. 
Kenton felt the most burning anxiety to know what was the result of 
their mission, but Logan did not visit him again until the next morn- 
ing. He then walked up to him, accompanied by Kenton's guards, 
and giving him a piece of bread, told him that he was instantly to be 
carried to Sandusky ; and without uttering another word, turned upon 
his heel and left him. 

Again Kenton's spirits sank. From Logan's manner, he supposed 
that his intercession had been unavailing, and that Sandusky was des- 
tined to be the scene of his final suffering. This appears to have been 
the truth. But fortune, who, to use Lord Lovat's expression, had 
been playing at cat and mouse with him for the last month, had 
selected Sandusky for the display of her strange and capi-icious power. 
He was driven into the town, as usual, and was to have been burned on 
the following morning, when an Indian agent named Drewyer inter- 
posed, and once more rescued him from the stake. He was anxious 
to obtain intelligence for the British commandant at Detroit ; and so 
earnestly insisted upon Kenton's being delivered up to him, that the 
Indians at length consented upon the express condition, that after the 
required information had been obtained, he should again be placed at 
their discretion. To this, Drewyer consented, and without further 
difficulty Kenton was transferred to his hands. Drewyer lost no time 
in removing him to Detroit. 

On the road, he informed Kenton of the condition upon which he 
had obtained possession of his person, assuring him, however, that no 
consideration should induce him to abandon a prisoner to the mercy 



BORDER WARS OP KENTUCKY. 673 



of such wretches. Having dwelt at some length upon the generosity 
of his own disposition, and having sufficiently magnified the service 
which he had just rendered him, he began, at length, to cross-question 
Kenton as to the force and condition of Kentucky, and particularly 
as to the number of men at Fort Mcintosh. Kenton very candidly 
declared his inability to answer either question, observing that he was 
merely a private, and by no means acquainted with matters of an en- 
larged and general import ; that his great business had heretofore been 
to endeavour to take care of himself, which he had found a work of 
no small difficulty. Drew^'^er replied that he believed him, and from 
that time Kenton was troubled with no more questions. 

His condition at Detroit was not unpleasant. He was compelled to 
report himself every morning to an English officer, and was restricted 
to certain boundaries through the day, but in other respects he scarcely 
felt that he was a prisoner. His battered body and broken arm were 
quickly repaired, and his emaciated limbs were again clothed with a 
proper proportion of flesh. He remained in this state of easy restraint 
from October, 1777, until June, 1778, when he meditated an escape. 
There was no difficulty in leaving Detroit, but he would be compelled 
to traverse a wilderness of more than two hundred miles, abounding 
with hostile Indians, and affording no means of subsistence beyond 
the wild game, which could not be killed without a gun. In addition 
to this, he would certainly be pursued, and, if retaken by the Indians, 
he might expect a repetition of all that he had undergone before, with- 
out the prospect of a second interposition on the part of the English. 

These considerations deterred him for some time from the attempt, 
but at length his impatience became uncontrollable, and he determined 
to escape or perish in the attempt. He took his measures with equal 
secrecy and foresight. He cautiously sounded two young Kentuck- 
ians, then at Detroit, who had been taken with Boone at the Blue 
Licks, and had been purchased by the British. He found them as 
impatient as himself of captivity, and resolute to accompany him. 
Charging them not to breathe a syllable of their design to any other 
prisoners, he busied himself for several days in making the necessary 
preparations. It was absolutely necessary that they should be pro- 
vided with arms, both for the sake of repelling attack, and procuring 
the means of subsistence ; and, at the same time, it was very difficult 
to obtain them, without the knowledge of the British commandant. 

By patiently waiting their opportunity, however, all these prelimi- 
nary difficulties were overcome. Kenton formed a close friendship 
with two Indian hunters, deluged them with rum, and bought their 
guns for a mere trifle. After carefully hiding them in the woods, he 

43 



674 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



returned to Detroit, and managed to procure another rifle, together 
with powder and balls, from a Mr. and Mrs. Edgar, citizens of the 
town. They then appointed a night for the attempt, and agreed upon 
a place of rendezvous. . All things turned out prosperously. They 
met at the time and place appointed without discovery, and taking a 
circuitous route, avoided pursuit, and travelling only during the night, 
they at length arrived safely at Louisville, after a march of thirty days. 

During the year 1781, the Indians were making a desperate effort 
to crush the settlements of Kentucky at a single blow. In the mean 
time, the settlers were employed in clearing land, and enjoying the 
fruits of their struggles in the wilderness, totally ignorant of the 
storm which was gathering on the lakes of the north. In the spring 
of 1782, they began to be harassed by small parties of the enemy. 

On the night of the 14th of August, 1782, the Indian army, num- 
bering six hundred warriors, appeared before Bryant's station, and, 
surrounding it on all sides, silently awaited the approach of day to 
rush into the fort when the gates were opened. But the old observa- 
tion, that fortune rules in war, was here exemplified. The men of the 
garrison were awake all that night, preparing to march next morning 
to the relief of another station then besieged by the Indians. This 
led the Indians to imagine that their approach was known, and they 
arranged another plan of attack. The main body was posted in am- 
bush near a spring on one side of the garrison, while a small party 
upon the other side were to make a feint of attack, which would draw 
the garrison to that side. 

At daybreak the garrison paraded, and was preparing to open the 
gates and march, when they were alarmed by a furious discharge of 
rifles and most appalling yells. The experienced rangers immediately 
concluded this was a decoy party, and manned the opposite side of 
the fort. When the main body commenced the attack, they were met 
with a well-aimed and steady fire, which killed and wounded many of 
them, and caused them to fall back. The attack was continued all 
that day, but no impression could be made upon the fort without artil- 
lery, and therefore the enemy resolved to raise the siege. Before 
doing so, Simon Girty made an efl'ort to negotiate with the garrison, 
but was treated with contempt. The next morning, before daylight, 
the whole army retired, leaving their fires burning. 

And now we have to record the particulars of the greatest disaster 
which had yet befallen the people of Kentucky — the defeat at the 
Blue Licks. 

While the Indians still lingered. Colonel John Todd, who resided 
in Lexington, despatched intelligence to Lieutenant-Colonel Trigg, 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 677 



living at Harrodsburg, of the attack on Bryant's station, leaving it 
to the latter to give the intelligence to his superior, Colonel Benjamin 
Logan. Neither Colonel Trigg nor Colonel Boone, Avho had also been 
called on, lost any time in collecting the men in their respective 
neighbourhoods ; but with singular promptitude, on the 18th of the 
month, but after the Indians had left the ground, repaired to Bryant's 
station under the command of Todd, as the superior officer, from 
Lexington, where they had rendezvoused their men under their appro- 
priate officers. The majors were McGary and Harland, from near 
Harrodsburg, and Levi Todd, of Lexington. 

The enemy having retreated, a council was held, in which it was 
promptly decided to pursue the Indians without waiting for the arrival 
of Colonel Logan, who was known to be collecting a strong party, 
and to be expected on the ground in a few days ; but when arrived, 
would, as the superior officer, have the command ; a circumstance 
which, it was suspected, both Todd and Trigg desired to avoid, think- 
ing themselves equal to the command, and sanguine of success, as 
they were emulous of praise, and possessed an idea of mental supe- 
riority. 

In consequence of the determination of the council, the march was 
immediately ordered, and forthwith commenced under the command 
of Colonel Todd, and next to him Colonel Trigg, on the route of the 
enemy, whose numbers as yet, though considerable, were not known. 
They had not proceeded very far before Boone and some others, 
experienced in the manners of the Indians, discovered signs of osten- 
tation and of tardiness on their trail, indicative of their willingness 
to be pursued, and calculated to point out their route, while apparent 
caution had been taken to conceal their numbers. The one was effect- 
ed by chopping the trees on the way ; the other, by treading in single 
file a narrow track, contracting their camp, and using but few fires 
where they stopped to eat. No Indian was seen, although it was 
apparent they were at no great distance in advance, until the pur- 
suers reached the southern bank of Licking, at the licks. The van 
of the party then discovered a few of them on the opposite side of the 
river, traversing the hill-side ; and who, apparently without alarm 
and leisurely, retired over the hill from their sight. A halt was called, 
the principal officers being assembled, the information then given, and 
the questions asked — "What shall be done? Whether is it best 
immediately to cross the river and continue the march, or stand here 
until the country round about can be reconnoitred by proper parties, 
and measures ultimately taken according to circumstances — either to 
attack, if the enemy were near, or wait the arrival of Colonel Logan?" 



678 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



Neither of the superior officers were much skilled in the manner or 
custom of Indian warfare ; they were, however, willing to be inform- 
ed, and had actually called upon Colonel Boone for his opinion of the 
case, and how they should act. This he was detailing with his usual 
candour and circumspection, by adverting to his own observations on 
the different appearances on the road, and the fact of the Indians 
showing themselves on the next hill. As to the number of the enemy, 
his conjectures varied from three to five hundred, owing to the ambi- 
guous nature of the sign they had made on the road. From the 
careless manner in which the Indians who had been seen conducted 
themselves, he was of the opinion that the main body was near and 
prepared for action. lie was particularly well acquainted with the 
situation of the ground about the licks, and the manner in which the 
river winds into an irregular ellipsis, embracing the great buffalo road 
and ridge from the licks toward Limestone as its longest line of bisec- 
tion, and which is terminated by two ravines heading near together a 
mile from the licks, and extending in opposite directions to the river. 
He had suggested the probability of the Indians having here formed 
an ambuscade, the advantages to them and the disadvantages to the 
party of Colonels Todd and Trigg should this conjecture be realized 
and the march continued. He proposed that the party should divide ; 
the one half march up Licking, on the south side, to the mouth of a 
small creek, now called Elk creek, and there crossing over, proceed 
on the ridge to the outside of the ravines; while the other half should 
advance to the high ground on the north of the licks, and place itself 
in a situation to co-operate on the enemy in case of attack. He 
showed that the whole advantage of position might be thus turned 
against the enemy ; and ho insisted, as the very least that should be 
done, if his superiors were determined not to wait for Colonel Logan, 
was to have the country explored round about, before they marched 
the main body over the river, for they were yet ignorant whether the 
Indians had crossed or not ; and in either event, if they were near, 
they meant to take advantage of the measure, which their superiority 
of number would render decisive. 

Already had Boone nearly gained the entire approbation of his 
superiors, and of those who heard his counsel — for, in fact, they only 
hesitated between his propositions — when Major McGary, impatient 
of delay, rushed his horse forward to the water's edge, and raising 
the war-whoop, next cried out with a loud voice, " Those who are not 
cowards follow me, I will show them where the Indians are," and spur- 
red his horse into the river. One followed, and then another in quick 
succession, until a motion and agitation were communicated to the 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 679 



•whole ; tlie council was broken up, the ofEcers "who might have been 
otherwise inclined were forced along in the crowd and tumult ; no- 
thing had been concerted, no distinct orders were given ; or, if given, 
not observed. They crossed the river, and pursued the road, as the 
general guide, kept by McGary in front, on either side of which 
parties flanked off, as the unevenness and irregularity of the ground 
would permit ; all moving forward, with the utmost disorder and pre- 
cipitation, over a surface covered with rocks laid bare by the tramp- 
ling of the buffalo and the washing of the rains for ages past. When 
the van approached the ridge next within the ravine which has been 
mentioned, to the left, an Indian or two were observed on it at a 
distance ; these appeared to retreat along the ridge, which led to the 
point between the ravine and river. One moment of cool reflection 
might have suggested the idea of decoy, and the next would have 
shown the propriety of caution. It appears, however, that the deter- 
mination to find the enemy so engrossed the party, that prudence was, 
like fear, completely excluded and banished. The party, therefore, 
pressed on toward the end of the ridge, where it was covered by a 
forest of oak trees of middling size, and the ravines with small sap- 
lings or brushwood, while the whole extent of the ellipsis had been 
stripped of all herbage by the herds of buffalo which were in the habit 
of resorting to the licks. Some scattering trees here and there ap- 
peared on a pavement of rock, as rude as it was singular, throughout 
the whole extent of the field. Both Todd and Trigg had deviated 
from the main road ; and, probably with a view of taking their posi- 
tion on the right of the troops, were far from the front, which moved 
rapidly and rather obliquely, headed by McGary, Harland, and 
McBride, and followed by the rest without regular order ; the whole, 
with a few exceptions, being armed with rifles and mounted on horses, 
formed a broken line corresponding with the ridge, and nearly parallel 
to the ravines, which were filled with Indians. 

No sooner had McGary entered the forest, than he discovered the 
enemy waiting for him : here the action immediately began, and soon 
became warm and bloody; on either side the rifle was pointed, on 
either side the warrior fell. It was discovered that the ravines, ex- 
tending the whole length of the line of Kentuckians, had concealed 
the savages, who fired and rushed upon their foes, not half their equal 
in point of numbers. Todd and Trigg, who were on the right when 
the line fronted the ravines, were thrown into the rear when its flank 
was changed, and it moved to the left, where the battle began. Al- 
ready had these fallen — already were the Indians turning the right, 
or rear of this line — already had twenty or more of those brave men 



680 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



•who first engaged breathed their last — already was the line every- 
where assailed, when a retreat commenced under the uplifted toma- 
hawk. At the beginning of the battle many of the men dismounted, 
while others did not ; in the retreat, some recovered their horses, 
others fled on foot over the rocky field already described, which was 
environed by high and rugged cliffs on either hand, until it declined 
into a flat as it approached the salt-spring. The ford was narrow, 
and the water, though shallow on it, was deep both above and below. 
Some of the fugitives were overtaken on the way to the river, and fell 
beneath the stroke of the Indian spear or hatchet ; but at the water 
was a greater havoc : some were slain in the water, some on either 
shore. 

Here it was that a singular phenomenon was exhibited : a man by 
the name of Netherland, well mounted, and among the foremost in 
the flight, having crossed Licking and gained the farthest bank, think- 
ing himself out of danger, checks his horse, takes a back view, sees 
the savages preparing to rush into the water, and there to extinguish 
the remains of many lives almost exhausted by wounds and the fatigue 
of flight, cries out with a shrill and commanding voice to those who 
had made the shore next to him — " Halt : fire on the Indians, and 
protect the men in the river." The call had the desired effect on ten 
or a dozen, who immediately halt, fire on the enemy, and check their 
pursuit ; probably, by so doing, as many lives were saved. This re- 
sistance, however, proves but momentary; the Indians gather rapidly 
on the shore, numbers of them are seen crossing the river, and per- 
sonal safety suggests a speedy flight. 

The fugitives were pursued for miles ; nor did they find a place of 
safety short of Bryant's station, thirty-six miles from the scene of 
action. Here many of those on horseback arrived within six, and 
others on foot within eight hours after the battle. 

At Bryant's, the survivors of this tragedy recount the exploits of 
their comrades, and their own disasters. Here they tell that Captain 
Robert Patterson, exhausted in the retreat, and ready to yield himself 
to the scalping-knife of the savage just in his rear, is accosted by 
Reynolds, a soldier on horseback, who dismounts, assists Patterson 
into his seat and insures his escape, while himself, now closely press- 
ed, falls into the hands of three or four of the enemy; he seems alert, 
and they have not time to kill him, but they take his arms, and leave 
him in the custody of an Indian who by this time had arrived, but 
seeming less expert than the captors, who continue the pursuit, sure 
of the pleasure of torturing one white man when they should have 
more leisure ; but the Indian with the prisoner continuing to move 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 681 



him, his moccason came loose ; and, while he stooped down to tie it, 
Reynolds snatches his gun from him, knocks him down with its butt, 
and makes his own escape. For this singular instance of real mag- 
nanimity and essential service, Patterson, who had no prior claims on 
Reynolds, afterward made him a present of two hundred acres of land. 

Never had Kentucky experienced so fatal a blow as that at the 
Blue Licks : of the one hundred and sixty-six brave men who repaired 
to the assistance of Bryant's station, one half or more were from 
Harrodsburg and its vicinity. The whole loss on the side of Ken- 
tucky was sixty killed and seven made prisoners. Of the wounded, 
but few escaped. The Indians, it was said, lost sixty-four killed, 
besides a number wounded. Such were the reports from their towns 
afterward, and that they massacred four of their prisoners to make 
the loss equal. The equal loss is doubted. 

Among the slain Kentuckians were Todd, Trigg, Harland, young 
Boone, and others of promising talents and high repute. The rash 
McGarry, though he fought like a tiger, escaped without a wound. 
He never acknowledged that he had done wrong, but asserted that 
Todd and Trigg had refused to wait and take counsel at tho proper 
time, had taunted him with cowardice because he had advised it, and 
then checked their ardour just as they were within striking distance 
of the enemy. Colonel Logan, with four hundred and fifty men, 
visited the battle-field a few days after the disaster, with the purpose 
of attacking the enemy if they could be found. But they had gone 
home, as usual with them, to boast and rejoice on account of their 
victory. The dead were buried, and then Logan and his little army 
returned to Bryant's station. 

To retaliate for this Indian invasion. Colonel George Rogers Clarke, 
who was stationed permanently at Louisville, declared that he would 
lead his regiment of state troops against the Indian villages in Ohio, 
and invited the militia to accompany him. As his reputation for 
energy and prudence was brilliant, the invitation was promptly 
answered. One thousand men assembled at the mouth of Licking, 
and, under Clarke's orders, penetrated to the heart of the Indian 
country. The savages, aware of their approach, fled from their towns, 
which were then reduced to ashes. Having completely destroyed 
every thing within their reach, the army returned to Kentucky. 

During the constant war between the first settlers of Kentucky and 
the Indians, boats descending the Ohio were exposed to the attacks of 
the latter, whose artifices frequently efiected what their force could 
not. 

In 1784, Colonel Thomas Marshall, formerly commander of the 



682 BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



third Virginia regiment on continental establishment, and subsequently 
holding the same rank in the A^irginia artillery, embarked with a 
numerous family on board of a flat-bottomed boat, and descended the 
Ohio, without any incident worthy of notice, until he had passed the 
mouth of the Kenawha. Here, about ten o'clock at night, he was 
hailed from the northern shore by a man who spoke good English, and 
quickly announced himself as James Girty, the brother of Simon, both 
of whom have already been repeatedly mentioned. The boat dropped 
slowly down within one hundred and fifty yards of the shore, and 
Girty making a corresponding movement on the beach, the conference 
was kept up for several minutes. He began by mentioning his name, 
and inquiring that of the master of the boat. 

Having been satisfied upon this head, he assured him that he knew 
him well, respected him highly, &c. &c., and concluded with some 
rather extraordinary remarks. "He had been posted there," he said, 
"by the order of his brother Simon, to warn all boats of the danger 
of permitting themselves to be decoyed ashore. The Indians had 
become jealous of him, and he had lost that influence which he for- 
merly held among them. He deeply regretted the injury which he 
had inflicted upon his countrymen, and wished to be restored to their 
society. In order to convince them of the sincerity of his regard, he 
had directed him to warn all boats of the snares spread for them. 
Every eflort would be made to draw passengers ashore. White men 
would appear on the bank, and children would be heard to supplicate 
for mercy. But," continued he, " do you keep the middle of the river, 
and steel your heart against every mournful application which you 
may receive." The colonel thanked him for his intelligence, and con- 
tinued his course. 

This warning, by whatever motive dictated, proved of great service 
to many families who would without it have fallen victims to savage 
stratagem. Soon after Marshall's warning. Captain James Ward was 
descending the Ohio, under circumstances which rendered a rencounter 
with the Indians peculiarly to be dreaded. He, together with half a 
dozen others, one of them his nephew, embarked in a crazy boat, about 
forty-five feet long and eight feet wide, with no other bulwark than a 
single pine plank above each gunnel. The boat was much encumbered 
with baggage, and seven horses were on board. Having seen no 
enemy for several days, they had become secure and careless, and 
permitted the boat to drift within fifty yards of the Ohio shore. Sud- 
denly, several hundred Indians showed themselves on the bank, and 
running down boldly to the water's edge, opened a heavy fire upon 
the boat. The astonishment of the crew may be conceived. 



BORDER WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



683 




Attack oa Ward's boat. 



Captain Ward and his nephew were at the oars when the enemy 
appeared, and the captain, knowing that their safety depended upon 
their ability to regain the middle of the river, kept his seat firmly, 
and exerted his utmost powers at the oar, but his nephew started up 
at the sight of the enemy, seized his rifle, and was in the act of level- 
ling it, when he received a ball in the breast, and fell dead in the 
bottom of the boat. Unfortunately, his oar fell into the river, and 
the captain, having no one to pull against him, rather urged the boat 
nearer to the hostile shore than otherwise. He quickly seized a plank, 
however, and giving his own oar to another of the crew, he took the 
station which his nephew had held, and unhurt by the shower of bullets 
which flew around him, continued to exert himself until the boat had 
reached a more respectable distance. He then, for the first time, 
looked around him in order to observe the condition of the crew. 

His nephew lay in his blood, perfectly lifeless ; the horses had been 
all killed or mortally wounded. Some had fallen overboard ; others 
were struggling violently, and causing their frail bark to dip water so 



684 BORDER "WARS OF KENTUCKY. 



abundantly as to excite the most serious apprehensions. But the 
crew presented the most singular spectacle. A captain, who had 
served with reputation in the continental army, seemed now totally 
bereft of his faculties. He lay upon his back in the bottom of the 
boat, with hands uplifted, and a countenance in which terror was per- 
sonified, exclaiming in a tone of despair, " Lord ! Lord !" A 
Dutchman, whose weight might amount to about three hundred pounds, 
was anxiously engaged in endeavouring to find shelter for his bulky 
person, which, from the lownels of the gunnels, was a very difficult 
undertaking. In spite of his utmost efibrts, a portion of his posterial 
luxuriance appeared above the gunnel, and afibrded a mark to the 
enemy which brought a constant shower of balls around it. 

In vain he shifted his position. The hump still appeared, and the 
balls still flew around it, until the Dutchman, losing all patience, 
raised his head above the gunnel, and, in a tone of querulous remon- 
strance, called out, " Oh, now ! quit tat tamned nonsense, tere, will 
you !" Not a shot was fired from the boat. At one time, after they 
had partly regained the current. Captain Ward attempted to bring 
his rifle to bear upon them, but so violent was the agitation of the 
boat, from the furious struggles of the horses, that he could not steady 
his piece within twenty yards of the enemy, and, quickly laying it 
aside, returned to the oar. The Indians followed them down the river 
for more than an hour, but, having no canoes, they did not attempt 
to board ; and as the boat was at length transferred to the opposite 
side of the river, they at length abandoned the pursuit and disappeared. 
None of the crew, save the young man already mentioned, were hurt, 
although the Dutchman's seat of honour served as a target for the 
space of an hour, and the continental captain was deeply mortified at 
the sudden, and, as he said, "unaccountable" panic which had seized 
him. Captain Ward himself was protected by a post, which had been 
fastened to the gunnel, and behind which he sat while rowing. 

Kentucky was born and nurtured amid scenes of hardship, struggle, 
and bloodshed, and her population have ever displayed those heroic 
qualities we might expect from their experience. The State has 
proved a valuable gem in the circlet of the Union ; and in time of 
threatening danger the clarion calls no braver soldiers to the field than 
those reared within her bosom. Her early history teems with the 
adventures and exploits of such spirits as are found in few countries, 
and her present population owe those pioneers a debt of gratitude and 
admiration, which it would be gross negligence and degradation to 
refuse. 




Trading with the iD-diana. 




BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 







HIO is one of the largest, most popu- 
lous, and most prosperous States of the 
American confederacy. Her growth 
has been exceedingly rapid. The citi- 
^' zen of little more than threescore and ten years 
can remember the time when not a white settler was 
to be found north of the Ohio river, within the 
present boundaries of the State — wdien the red 
men traversed the territory, and looked upon its 
extensive and well-stocked hunting-grounds as all 
their own. Yet nearly two millions of enterprising inhabitants are 
now found within Ohio's limits, and the number is increasing at a very 
rapid rate. 

Long before any of the Anglo-Saxon race arrived upon the shores 
of the Ohio, they were visited by enterprising and adventurous French- 
men. None of these, however, attempted to form a settlement within 
the limits of the present State of Ohio. In 1748, the Ohio Company 
was formed by the English, for the purpose of securing the Indian 
trade, and checking the progress of the French. The first English 
trading-post in the territory was built upon the Great Miami, in 1749. 
The place is known now as Laramie's Store. Christopher Gist was^ 
perhaps, the first English trader who visited that part of the country. 
Early in 1752, the French, having heard of the trading-house on the 
Miami, sent a party of soldiers to the Twigtwees, and demanded the 
traders as intruders upon French lands. The Twigtees refused to de- 

687 



688 BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



liver up their friends. The French, assisted by the Ottawas and Chip- 
pewas, then attacked the trading-house, which was probably a block- 
house, and after a severe battle, in which fourteen of the natives were 
killed and others wounded, took and destroyed it, carrying away the 
traders to Canada. This fort, or trading-house, was called by the 
English Pickawillany. 

The Moravian missionaries, prior to the war of the Revolution, had 
several missions within the limits of Ohio. The principal of these 
pious adventurers were Post and Heckwelder. In March, 1782, a 
party of frontier men, commanded by Col. Williamson, went to the 
Moravian towns on the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, and mur- 
dered, in cold blood, ninety-four of the defenceless converted Indians. 
They had been for a long time the friends of the whites, and were 
peace-loving, industrious people. In the following June, Col. Craw- 
ford, with five hundred men, marched into the Indian country, but 
was defeated about three miles north of Upper Sandusky. Col. Craw- 
ford was captured and put to death with horrible tortures. An account 
of this dreadful scene is left us by Dr. Knight, a prisoner at the same 
time, and an eye-witness. 

" When we Avent to the fire, the colonel was stripped naked, ordered 
to sit dovin by the fire, and then they beat him with sticks and their 
fists. Presently after I was treated in the same manner. They then 
tied a rope to the foot of a post about fifteen feet high, bound the 
colonel's hands behind his back, and fastened the rope to the ligature 
between his wrists. The rope was long enough for him to sit down or 
walk round the post once or twice, and return the same way. The 
colonel then called to Girty, and asked if they intended to burn him ? 
Girty answered yes. The colonel said he would take it all patiently. 
Upon this. Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief, made a speech to the In- 
dians, viz. about thirty or forty men, sixty or seventy squaws and 
boys. 

" When the speech was finished, they all yelled a hideous and hearty 
assent to what had been said. The Indian men then took up their 
guns, and shot powder into the colonel's body, from his feet as far up 
as his neck. I think that not less than seventy loads were discharged 
upon his naked body. They then crowded about him, and, to the best 
of my observation, cut off his ears ; W'hen the throng had dispersed a 
little, I saw the blood running from both sides of his head in conse- 
quence thereof. 

" The fire was about six or seven yards from the post to which the 
colonel was tied ; it was made of small hickory poles, burnt quite 
through in the middle, each end of the poles remaining about six feet 



BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 689 



in length. Three or four Indians by turns would take up, individually, 
one of these burning pieces of wood, and apply it to his naked body, 
already burnt black with the powder. These tormentors presented 
themselves on every side of him with the burning fagots and poles. 
Some of the squaws took broad boards, upon which they would carry 
a quantity of burning coals and hot embers, and throw on him, so 
that in a short time he had nothing but coals of fire and hot ashes to 
walk upon. 

" In the midst of these extreme tortures he called to Simon Girty, 
and begged of him to shoot him ; but Girty making no answer, he 
called to him again. Girty then, by way of derision, told the colonel 
he had no gun, at the same time turning about to an Indian who was 
behind him, laughed heartily, and by all his gestures seemed delighted 
at the horrid scene. 

" Girty then came up to me and bade me prepare for death. He 
said, however, I was not to die at that place, but to be burned at the 
Shawanese towns. He swore by G — d I need not expect to escape 
death, but should suffer it in all its extremities. 

" Colonel Crawford, at this period of his sufferings, besought the 
Almighty to have mercy on his soul, spoke very low, and bore his 
torments with the most manly fortitude. He continued in all the 
extremities of pain for an hour and three-quarters or two hours longer, 
as near as I can judge, when at last, being almost exhausted, he lay 
down on his belly ; they then scalped him, and repeatedly threw the 
scalp in my face, telling me, 'that was my great captain.' An old 
squaw (whose appearance every way answered the ideas people enter- 
tain of the devil) got a board, took a parcel of coals and ashes and 
laid them on his back and head, after he had been scalped ; he then 
raised himself upon his feet and began to walk round the post ; they 
next put a burning stick to him, as usual, but he seemed more insen- 
sible of pain than before. 

<' The Indian fellow who had me in charge now took me away to 
Captain Pipe's house, about three-quarters of a mile from the place 
of the colonel's execution, I was bound all night, and thus prevented 
from seeing the last of the horrid spectacle. Next morning, being 
June 12th, the Indian untied me, painted me black, and we set off for 
the Shawanese town, which he told me was somewhat less than forty 
miles distant from that place. We soon came to the spot where the 
colonel had been burnt, as it was partly in our way ; I saw his bones 
lying among the remains of the fire, almost burned to ashes ; I sup- 
pose, after he w^as dead, they laid his body on the fire. The Indian 
told me that was my big captain, and gave the scalp halloo." 

u 



690 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 




In the fall of 1787, the JSTew England Ohio Company was formed 
in Boston, and a large tract of territory in the vicinity of the Mus- 
kingum and Scioto rivers was purchased from the general government. 
The settlement of this purchase began in the spring of 1788, when 
General Rufus Putnam, with a party of settlers, founded Marietta, at 
the mouth of the Muskingum. The same year. Congress appointed 
General Arthur St. Clair governor of the Northwest Territory, and the 
governmental organization was effected soon after. The settlement of 
Marietta was followed by the settlement of other places on the Ohio 
and Muskingum, in rapid succession. 

The Indians were opposed to the existence of the towns north of the 
Ohio, and in spite of the treaties entered into between St. Clair and 
some of the tribes, they resolved to attempt to break them up. In 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



691 




the course of 1789, the Indians assumed a hostile front, killed several 
stragglers from the settlements, and compelled the people to erect 
block-houses, and be very guarded in their movements. The garrison 
at Fort Harmer was strengthened ; and late in 1789, General Har- 
mer, with about two hundred and fifty regulars, arrived at Fort Wash- 
ington, on the spot where Cincinnati now stands. 

General Harmer now strove to conciliate the Indians. But his 
efforts failed ; and he then resolved to march into their country, and 
attack their towns. In September, 1790, he left Cincinnati with 
thirteen hundred men, only one-fourth of whom were regulars. 
Near the Indian villages on the Miami, an advance detachment fell 
into an ambush, and was defeated, many being killed. Harmer suc- 
ceeded in destroying the Indian villages and standing corn, and then 
commenced his march homeward. He had not proceeded far, when he 
received intelligence that the savages had returned to their ruined 
towns. Colonel Hardin, at his own request, then led a detachment 
back to bring them to battle. This was effected. The Indians, under 
the command of Little Turtle and other famous chiefs, fought furiously, 
and at length defeated the detachment, killing more than one hundred 
of the militia and most of the regulars. After this disaster Harmer 
returned to Fort Washington. 

The expedition of General Harmer having failed to attain its object, 
a more powerful force was collected at Fort Washington, and General 



692 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 




L ttl TuiU 



St. Clair assumed tlie command. This army of tliree thousand men 
commenced its march in October, and proceeded rather slowly toward 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



693 




Fort WashinL'ton. 



the Maumee towns. Forts Hamilton and Jefferson were built about 
forty miles from each other, on the road. At Fort Jefferson a con- 
siderable body of militia deserted, and the first regiment of regulars 
was ordered to pursue them and prevent them from plundering the 
advancing convoys of provisions. General St. Clair had now about 
thirteen hundred men with him. On the od of November, 1791, 
he halted at a creek which is now the line between Darke and 
Mercer counties. There he intended to wait for the absent regiment. 
But before sunrise on the following morning, the camp was attacked 
by an overwhelming force of Indians. After an obstinate conflict of 
four hours, the Americans were entirely defeated. General Butler 
and nearly six hundred men were killed, and a precipitate flight only 
saved the remainder of the army. 

When the war broke out, the Ohio settlers were scarcely prepared 
for it. Forts were erected at the principal settlements, but some of 
the new ones were without even the shelter of block-houses. The forts 
were not as well provided as they should have been with either food 
or ammunition. The services of a daring and efficient body of spies or 
rangers were secured, and these rendered all attempts to surprise the 
chief settlements futile. But others were not so secure. 

The first stroke fell upon the new settlement at Big Bottom, on the 



694 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 







Cleaiins at Big Bottom. 



Muskingum, in the fall of 1790. The following account of the attack 
and massacre we find in the American Pioneer. 

Those best acquainted with the Indians, and those most capable 
of judging from appearances, had little doubt that they were prepar- 
ing for hostilities, and strongly opposed the settlers going out that 
fall, and advised their remaining until spring ; by which time, proba- 
bly, the question of war or peace would be settled. Even General 
Putnam, and the directors of the Ohio company, who gave away the 
land to have it settled, thought it risky and imprudent, and strongly 
remonstrated against venturing out at that time. 

But the young men were impatient, confident in their own prudence 
and ability to protect themselves. They went, put up a block-house 
Avhich might accommodate the whole of them on an emergency, covered 
it, and laid puncheon floors, stairs, &c. It was laid up of large beech 
logs, and rather open, as it was not chinked between the logs ; this 
job was left for a rainy day, or some more convenient season. Here 
was their first great error, as they ceased to complete the work, and 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 695 



the general interest was lost in that of the convenience of each indi- 
vidual ; with this all was lost. The second error was, they kept no sentry, 
and had neglected to stockade or set pickets around the block-house. 
No system of defence or discipline had been introduced. Their guns 
were lying in different places, without order, about the house. Twenty 
men usually encamped in the house, a part of whom were now absent, and 
each individual and mess cooked for themselves. One end of the building 
was appropriated for a fire-place ; and when the day closed in, all came 
in, built a large fire, and commenced cooking and eating their suppers. 

The weather for some time previous to the attack, as we learn from 
the diary of Hon. Paul Fearing, who lived at Fort Harmer, had been 
quite cold. In the midst of winter, and with such weather as this, it 
was not customary for the Indians to venture out on war-parties, and 
the early borderers had formerly thought themselves in a manner safe 
from their depredations during the winter months. 

About tw^enty rods above the block-house, a little back from the 
bank of the river, tw^o men, Francis and Isaac Choate, members of 
the company, had erected a cabin and commenced clearing their lots. 
Thomas Shaw, a hired labourer in the employ of the Choates, and 
James Patten, another of the associates, lived with them. About the 
same distance below the garrison, was an old " tomahawk improvement " 
and a small cabin, which two men, Asa and Eleazer Bullard, had fitted 
up and now occupied. The Indian war-path, from Sandusky to the 
mouth of the Muskingum, passed along on the opposite shore, in sight 
of the river. 

The Indians, who, during the summer, had been hunting and loiter- 
ing about the settlements at Wolf creek mills and Plainfield, holdinc^ 
frequent and friendly intercourse with the settlers, selling them veni- 
son and bear-meat in exchange for green corn and vegetables, had 
withdrawn early in the autumn, and gone high up the river into the 
vicinity of their towns, preparatory to winter-quarters. Being well 
acquainted with all the approaches to these settlements, and the man- 
ner in which the inhabitants lived, each family in their own cabin, not 
apprehensive of danger, they planned and fitted out a war-party for 
their destruction. It is said, they were not aware of there being a 
settlement at Big Bottom until they came in sight of it, on the oppo- 
site shore of the river, in the afternoon. From a high hill opposite 
the garrison, they had a view of all that part of the bottom, and could 
see how the men were occupied, and what was doing about the block- 
house. Having reconnoitred the station in this manner, just at twi- 
light they crossed the river on the ice a little above, and divided their 
men into two parties; the larger one to attack the block-house, and 



696 BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



the smaller one to make prisoners of the few men living in Choate's 
cabin, without alarming those below. The plan was skilfully arranged 
and promptly executed. As the party cautiously approached the cabin, 
they found the inmates at supper ; a party of the Indians entered, 
while others stood without by the door, and addressed the men in a 
friendly Inanner. Suspecting no harm, they offered them a part of 
their food, of which they partook. Looking about the room, the In- 
dians espied some leather thongs and pieces of cord that had been 
used in packing venison, and taking the white men by their arms told 
them they were prisoners. Finding it useless to resist, the Indians 
being; more numerous, thev submitted to their fate in silence. 

While this was transacting, the other party had reached the block- 
house unobserved ; even the dogs gave no notice of their approach, as 
they usually do, by barking ; the reason probably was, that they were 
also within by the fire, instead of being on the alert for their mas- 
ters' safety. The door was thrown open by a stout Mohawk, who 
stepped in and stood by the door to keep it open, while his companions 
without shot down those around the fire. A man by the name of 
Zebulon Throop, from Massachusetts, was frying meat, and fell dead 
in the fire ; several others fell at this discharge. The Indians then 
rushed in and killed all who were left with the tomahawk. No resist- 
ance seems to have been offered, so sudden and unexpected was the 
attack, by any of the men ; but a stout, backwoods, Virginia woman, 
the wife of Isaac Meeks, who Avas employed as their hunter, seized an 
axe and made a blow at the head of the Indian who opened the door ; 
a slight turn of the head saved his skull, and the axe passed down 
through his cheek into the shoulder, leaving a huge gash that severed 
nearly half his face ; she was instantly killed by the tomahawk of one 
of his companions before she could repeat the stroke. This was all 
the injury received by the Indians, as the men were all killed before 
they had time to seize their arms, which stood in the corner of the 
room. While the slaughter was going on, John Stacy, a young man 
in the prime of life, and the son of Col. William Stacy, sprang up the 
stairway and out on to the roof; while his brother Philip, a lad of 
sixteen years, secreted himself under some bedding in the corner of 
the room. The Indians on the outside soon discovered the former, 
and shot him while he was in the act of "begging them, for God's 
sake, to spare his life, as he was the only one left!" 

This was heard by the Bullards, who, alarmed by the firing at the 
block-house, had run out of their cabin to see what was the matter. 
Discovering the Indians round the house, they sprang back into their 
iiut, seized their rifles and ammunition, and, closing the door after them, 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 697 



put out into the woods in a direction to be hid by the cabin from the 
view of the Indians. They had barely escaped when they heard their 
door, which was made of thin clapboards, burst open by the Indians. 
They did not pursue them, although they knew they had just fled, as 
there was a good fire burning, and their food for supper smoking hot 
on the table. After the slaughter was over and the scalps secured, one 
of the most important acts in the warfare of the American savages, 
they proceeded to collect the plunder. In removing the bedding, the 
lad, Philip Stacy, was discovered ; their tomahawks were instantly 
raised to despatch him, when he threw himself at the feet of one of 
their leading warriors, begging him to protect him. The savage either 
took compassion on his youth, or else his revenge being satisfied with 
the slaughter already made, interposed his authority and saved his 
life. After removing every thing they thought valuable, they tore up 
the floor, piled it on the dead bodies, and set it on fire, thinking to 
destroy the block-house with the carcasses of their enemies. The 
building being made of green beech logs, the fires only consumed the 
floors and roof, leaving the walls still standing when visited the day 
after by the whites. 

There were twelve persons killed in this attack, viz. John Stacy, 
Ezra Putnam, son of Major Putnam, of Marietta ; John Camp and 
Zebulon Throop — these men were from Massachusetts ; Jonathan Fare- 
well and James Couch, from New Hampshire ; William James, from 
Connecticut ; Joseph Clark, Rhode Island ; Isaac Meeks, his wife and 
two children, from Virginia. They were well provided with arms, and 
no doubt could have defended themselves had they taken proper pre- 
cautions ; but they had no old revolutionary ofiicers with them to plan 
and direct their operations, as they had at all the other garrisons. 
If they had picketed their house and kept a regular sentry, the In- 
dians would probably never have attacked them. They had no horses 
or cattle for them to seize upon as plunder, and Indians are not very 
fond of hard fighting -where nothing is to be gained ; but seeing the 
naked block-house, without any defences, they were encouraged to 
attempt its capture. Colonel Stacy, who had been an old soldier, 
well acquainted with Indian warfare in Cherry valley, and had two 
sons there, visited the post only the Saturday before, and seeing its 
weak state, had given them a strict charge to keep a regular watch, 
and prepare immediately strong bars to the door, to be shut every 
night at sunset. They, however, fearing no danger, did not profit 
by his advice. 

The party of Indians, after this, bent their steps toward the Wolf 
creek mills ; but finding the people here awake and on the look-out, 



698 BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



prepared for an attack, they did nothing more than reconnoitre the 
place, and made their retreat at early dawn, to the great relief of the 
inhabitants. The number of Indians who came over from Big Bottom 
was never known. 

The next day Captain Rogers led a party of men over to Big Bot- 
tom. It was a melancholy sight to the poor borderers, as they knew 
not how soon the same fate might befall themselves. The action of 
the fire, although it did not consume, had so blackened and disfigured 
the dead, that few of them could be distinguished. That of Ezra 
Putnam was known by a pewter plate that lay under him, and which 
his body had prevented from entirely melting. His mother's name 
was on the bottom of the plate, and a part of the cake he was baking 
at the fire still adhered to it. William James was recognised by his 
great size, being six feet four inches in height, and stoutly built. He 
had a piece of bread clenched in his right hand, probably in the act 
of eating, with his back to the door, when the fatal rifle shot took 
effect. As the ground was frozen outside, a hole was dug within the 
walls of the house, and the bodies consigned to one grave. No further 
attempt was made at a settlement here till after the peace in 1795. 

The general government, having determined to make more vigorous 
efforts than ever for the punishment of the Indians, General Anthony 
Wayne, an energetic commander, was appointed to conduct another 
expedition into the country of the hostile tribes. W^hile Wayne was 
collecting his troops, disciplining them, and making every exertion to 
create a force which would insure success, the general government 
strove to bring about a peace by negotiation. These efforts failed. 
Some of the negotiators were murdered ; the others received no en- 
couragement. 

On the 28th of July, 1794, Wayne, having been joined by General 
Scott, with sixteen hundred mounted Kentuckians, moved forward 
to the Maumee. By the 8th of August, the army had arrived 
near the junction of the Auglaize with that stream, and commenced 
the erection of Fort Defiance at that point. Wayne intended to sur- 
prise the enemy, and had two roads cut to the Indian towns, proposing 
to march between them. But the Indians heard of his approach 
through a deserter, and, abandoning their head-quarters, defeated the 
plan. Wayne then sent a man named Miller to the Indians, with a 
final ofi"er of peace ; but he did not wait for the return of his mes- 
senger. On the 19th, the army arrived at Roche de Boeuf, where a 
fort was erected as a place of deposit for the heavy baggage. Miller 
having returned with an oft'er of delay from the Indians, Wayne did 
not think it prudent to accede to it, but pressed on toward the Maumee 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



699 




General Wayne. 

"where the enemy was posted. The site of the battle was .about two 
miles south of the present Maumee City. From Wayne's report of the 
battle we quote the following : 

" The legion was on the right, its flank covered by the Maumee : 
one brigade of mounted volunteers on the left, under Brigadier-Gene- 
ral Todd, and the other in the rear, under Brigadier-General Barbee. 
A select battalion of mounted volunteers moved in front of the legion, 
commanded by Major Price, who was directed to keep sufficiently ad- 
vanced, so as to give timely notice for the troops to form in case of 
action, it being yet undetermined whether the Indians would decide 
for peace or war. 

"After advancing about five miles. Major Price's corps received so 
severe a fire from the enemy, who were secreted in the woods and high 
grass, as to compel them to retreat. The legion was immediately 
formed in two lines, principally in a close thick wood, which extended 



700 BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



for miles on our left, and for a very considerable distance in front ; 
the ground being covered with old fallen timber, probably occasioned 
by a tornado, which rendered it impracticable for the cavalry to act 
with effect, and afforded the enemy the most favourable covert for 
their mode of warfare. The savages were formed in three lines, 
within supporting distance of each other, and extending for near two 
miles at right angles with the river. I soon discovered, from the 
weight of the fire and extent of their lines, that the enemy were in 
full force in front, in possession of their favourite ground, and en- 
deavouring to turn our left flank. I therefore gave orders for the 
second line to advance and support the first ; and directed Major- 
General Scott to gain and turn the right flank of the savages, with 
the whole force of the mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route ; at 
the same time I ordered the front line to advance and charge with 
trailed arms, and rouse the Indians from their coverts at the point of 
the bayonet, and when up, to deliver a close and well-directed fire on 
their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so as not to give them time 
to load again. 

" I also ordered Captain Mis Campbell, who commanded the legion- 
ary cavalry, to turn the left flank of the enemy next the river, and 
which afforded a favourable field for that corps to act in. All these 
orders were obeyed with spirit and promptitude ; but such was the 
impetuosity of the charge by the first line of infantry, that the Indians 
and Canadian militia and volunteers were driven from all their coverts 
in so short a time, that, although every possible exertion was used by 
the officers of the second line of the legion, and by Generals Scott, 
Todd, and Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their proper 
position, but part of each could get up in season to participate in the 
action ; the enemy being drove, in the course of one hour, more than 
two miles through the thick woods already mentioned, by less than 
one-half their numbers. From every account the enemy amounted to 
two thousand combatants. The troops actually engaged against them 
were short of nine hundred. This horde of savages, with their allies, 
abandoned themselves to flight, and dispersed w^ith terror and dismay, 
leaving our victorious army in full and quiet possession of the field of 
battle, which terminated under the influence of the guns of the British 
garrison. 

" The bravery and conduct of every officer belonging to the army, 
from the generals down to the ensigns, merit my highest approbation. 
There were, however, some whose rank and situation placed their con- 
duct in a very conspicuous point of view, and which I observed with 
pleasure and the most lively gratitude ; among whom I must beg leave 



BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 701 



to mention Brigadier- General Wilkinson and Colonel Hamtramck, the 
commandants of the right and left wings of the legion, whose brave 
example inspired the troops. To those I must add the names of mj 
faithful and gallant aids-de-camp, Captains De Butt and T. Lewis, and 
Lieutenant Harrison, who, with the adjutant-general, Major Mills, 
rendered the most essential service by communicating my orders in 
every direction, and by their conduct and bravery exciting the troops 
to press for victory. 

" The loss of the enemy was more than that of the federal army. 
The woods were strewed for a considerable, distance with the dead 
bodies of Indians and their white auxiliaries, the latter armed with 
British muskets and bayonets. 

" We remained three days and nights on the banks of the Maumee, 
in front of the field of battle, dui'ing which time all the houses and 
cornfields were consumed and destroyed for a considerable distance, 
both above and below Fort Miami, as well as within pistol-shot of the 
garrison, who were compelled to remain tacit spectators to this general 
devastation and conflagration, among which were the houses, stores, 
and property of Colonel McKee, the British Indian agent, and princi- 
pal stimulator of the war now existing between the United States and 
the savages." 

The loss of the United States army in this battle was thirty-three 
killed and one hundred wounded. The victory was decisive. The 
Indians then expressed their strong desire for peace. 

During this successful expedition, Wayne employed a numerous 
corps of the best rangers upon the frontier. Of these, Captain Wells 
was the most distinguished and the most active. An exploit performed 
by this ranger and two comrades is thus narrated in McDonald's 
Sketches : — 

" In June, 1794, while the head-quarters of the army were at Green- 
ville, Wayne despatched Wells, with his corps, with orders to bring an 
Indian into the camp as prisoner. Accordingly he proceeded cau- 
tiously with his party through the Indian country. They crossed the 
St. Mary's and thence to the Auglaize, without meeting with any 
straggling party of Indians. In passing up the latter, they discovered 
a smoke, dismounted, tied their horses, and cautiously reconnoitred. 
They found three Indians encamped on a high, open piece of ground, 
clear of brush or any undergrowth, rendering it difficult to approach 
them Avithout being discovered. While reconnoitring, they saw, not 
very distant from the camp, a fallen tree. They returned and went 
round, so as to get it between them and the Indians. The tree-top, 
being full of leaves, would serve to screen them from observation. 



702 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 









1 <^m\:K 




The scouts. 



They crept forward on their hands and knees \Yith the caution of the 
cat, until they reached it, when they were within seventy or eighty 
yards of the camp. The Indians were sitting or standing about the 
fire, roasting their venison, laughing, and making merry antics, little 
dreaming that death was about stealing a march upon them. Arrived 
at the fallen tree, their plans were settled. McClellan, who Avas 
almost as swift of foot as a deer, was to catch the centre Indian, 
while Wells and Miller were to kill the other two, one shooting to the 
right and the other to the left. Resting the muzzles of their rifles on 
the log of the fallen tree, they aimed for the Indians' hearts. Whiz 
went the balls, and both Indians fell. Before the smoke had risen 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 703 



two feet, McClellan was running with uplifted tomahawk for the 
remaining Indian, who bounded down the river, but finding himself 
likely to be headed if he continued in that direction, he turned and 
made for the river, which at that place had a bluff bank about twenty 
feet high. On reaching it, he sprang off into the stream and sank to 
his middle in the soft mud at its bottom. McClellan came after and 
instantly sprang upon him, as he was wallowing and endeavouring to 
extricate himself from the mire. The Indian drew his knife : the 
other raised his tomahawk, and bade him throw down his knife or he 
would kill him instantly. He did so, and surrendered without farther 
opposition. 

" By this time, Wells and his companion came to the bank, and 
discovered the two quietly sticking in the mud. Their prisoner being 
secure, they selected a place where the bank was less precipitous, 
went down, dragged the captive out, and tied him. He was sulky, 
and refused to speak either Indian or English. Some of the party 
went back for their horses, while the others washed the mud and paint 
from the prisoner. When cleaned, he turned out to be a white man, 
but still refused to speak, or give any account of himself. The party 
scalped the two Indians whom they had shot, and then set off for 
head-quarters. Henry Miller having some suspicions that their pri- 
soner might possibly be his brother Christopher, whom he had left with 
the Indians years previous, rode up alongside of him, and called him 
by his Indian name. At the sound, he started, stared around, and 
eagerly inquired how he came to know his name ? The mystery was 
soon explained. Their prisoner was indeed Christopher Miller ! A 
mysterious Providence appeared to have placed him in a situation in 
the camp by which his life was preserved. Had he been standing 
either to the right or to the left, he would inevitably have been killed, 
and an even chance too, if not by his own brother. But that fate 
which appears to have doomed the Indian race to extinction per- 
mitted the white man to live. 

" When they arrived at Greenville, their prisoner was placed in the 
guard-house. Wayne often interrogated him as to what he knew of 
the future intentions of the Indians. Captain Wells and his brother 
Henry were almost constantly with him, urging him to abandon the 
idea of ever again joining the Indians, and to unite with the whites. 
For some time he was reserved and sulky, but at length became more 
cheerful, and agreed that if they would release him from his confine- 
ment he would remain among them. Captain Wells and Henry Mil- 
ler urged Wayne to release him, who did so, with the observation that 
should he deceive them and return to the enemy, they would be one 



704 BOEDER AVARS OP OHIO. 



the stronger. He appeared pleased with his change of situation, and 
"was mounted on a fine horse, and otherwise equipped for war. He 
joined the company of Wells, and continued through the war a brave 
and intrepid soldier." 

The following adventure, also narrated by McDonald, is highly 
honourable to Captain Wells, and shows that his courage was not 
tainted with ferocity : — 

" On one of Captain Wells's peregrinations through the Indian 
country, as he came to the bank of the St. Mary's, he discovered a 
family of Indians coming up the river in a canoe. He dismounted 
from his horse and concealed his men, while he went to the bank of 
the river, in open view, and called to the Indians to come over. As 
he was dressed in the Indian costume and spoke in that language, 
they crossed to him, unsuspicious of danger. The moment the canoe 
struck the shore, Wells heard the nicking of the cocks of his comrades' 
rifles, as tliey prepared to shoot the Indians ; but who should be in the 
canoe but his Indian father and mother, with their children ! The others 
were now coming forward with their rifles cocked, and ready to pour in a 
deadly fire upon this family. Wells shouted to them to desist, informing 
them who the Indians Were, solemnly declaring that the first man who 
attempted to injure one of them should receive a ball in his head. 
' That family,' said he to his men, ' had fed him when hungry, clothed 
him when naked, and nursed him when sick, and had treated him as 
aflectionately as their own children.' This short speech moved the 
sympathetic hearts of his leather-hunting-shirt comrades, who entered 
at once into his feelings and approved of his lenity. Dropping their 
tomahawks and rifles, they went to the canoe and shook hands with 
the trembling Indians in the most friendly manner. Wells assured 
them they had nothing to fear ; and after talking with them some 
time to dispel their anxiety, he told them 'that General Wayne 
was approaching with an overwhelming force ; that the best thing the 
Indians could do was to make peace, and that the whites did not wish 
to continue the war. He urged his Indian father to keep for the 
future out of danger :' he then bade them farewell. They appeared 
grateful for his clemency, pushed ofl:' their canoe, and paddled with 
their utmost rapidity down the stream. Captain Wells and his com- 
rades, though perfect desperadoes in fight, upon this occasion proved 
that they largely possessed that gratitude and benevolence which does 
honour to human kind." 

This little band of spies, during the campaign, performed more real 
service than any other corps of equal number belonging to the army. 
They brought in, at difl^erent times, not less than twenty prisoners, 




45 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



707 




Icdiaa in arabush. 



and killed more than an equal number. As they had no rivals in the 
army, they aimed in each excursion to outdo their former exploits. 
"What confidence ! Avhat self-possession was displayed by these men in 
their terrific encounters ! To ride boldly into the enemy's camp, in 
full view of their blazing camp-fires, and enter into conversation with 
them without betraying the least appearance of trepidation or con- 
fusion, and openly commence the work of death, prove how well 
their souls were steeled against fear. They had come off unscathed 
in so many desperate conflicts, that they became callous to danger. 

In the mean time, the Ohio settlements were exposed to the vigilant 
and harassing war-parties of the Indians. In the early spring of 



708 BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



1792 several murders were committed at Newbury, a small settlement 
about six miles below Belpre, where a stockade fort had been erected 
for the security of the inhabitants. On the 1st of March, 1793, the 
people of Belpre met with the most serious loss they had yet felt, in 
the capture by the Indians of Major Nathan Goodalc, the most influ- 
ential man in the settlement. He fell sick and died while his captors 
were taking him to Sandusky. 

In the spring of 1794, the house of John Armstrong, on the Vir- 
ginia shore, near Blcnnerhassett's island, was attacked by the Indians, 
and most of the family killed or captured. Armstrong had resided 
upon the Ohio side during the winter ; but having, in partnership with 
Peter Mixner, a floating mill moored near the Virginia shore, he had 
moved his family just above it, and built a cabin. Mixner had done 
the same. They were warned of their exposure to Indian attacks, but 
did not fear them. From some cause not known, Mixner, shortly be- 
fore the attack, built another cabin in the woods, and moved his 
family into it. This saved them. The details of the attack upon 
Armstrong's house, we quote from Hildreth's Pioneer History. 

" Towards morning on the 25th of April, Mr. Armstrong was awa- 
kened by the barking of his faithful dog. An old she-bear had at- 
tempted to carry off his pigs a night or two before, and he thought 
she had returned. 

"Without putting on his clothes, he seized his rifle, unbarred the 
door, and rushed out to the aid of his dog, Avhicli was barking violently 
at some object which he could not distinctly see. As he approached 
nearer, he caught the glimpse of three or four Indians, Avhose presence 
had roused the ire of his dog. He instantly fired at them, and hal- 
looed, 'Indians! Indians!' and retreated into the house, fastened the 
door, and went up into the loft, where three of the larger children 
slept ; while the two smaller ones, with the infant, lodged below, with 
himself and wife. By the time he had reached the loft, the Indians, 
with the aid of a heavy rail and their tomahawks, had burst open the 
door and taken possession of the house. Finding he could make no 
effectual resistance for the defence of his family, he pushed apart the 
loose shingling of the roof, jumped down to the ground, and, unseen 
by the Indians, retreated to the mill, where two of his oldest boys, 
who aided in tending it, were sleeping, "When the savages entered 
the house, Mrs. Armstrong, with the infant in her arms, attempted to 
escape, by getting out at the top of the low, unfinished chimney, which 
was made of logs ; but her foot slipped and she fell back again, break- 
ing her leg in the fall. The Indians then tomahawked and scalped 
her, with the two younger children. On visiting the loft, they found 



BORDER AVARS OF OHIO. 



709 




Murder of Mrs. Armstrong. 



Jeremiah, about eiglit years old ; John, ten ; and Elizabeth, of four- 
teen years. These they did not kill, but took as prisoners, 

"In the mean time, Mixner, hearing the gun and the noise at Arm- 
strong's cabin, came out to learn the cause. Listening carefully, in 
the stillness of the night, he heard the Indians in busy conversation. 
Calling up his wife, who was incredulous as to the cause, he bade her 
hearken to the voices, which he could hear distinctly, but could not 
understand. Mrs. Mixner, who had been a prisoner with the Wyan- 
dots, and understood their language, learned that they Avere seeking 
and inquiring of each other for the family that lived in the other 
cabin, but was now empty. He lost no time in hurrying his family 
into his canoe, and paddled out into the middle of the river, letting 
the boat float slowly and silently by the cabin of his neighbour. 
Hearing the low moaning and stifled sobs of Elizabeth at the murder 
of her mother and the children, he hailed, and asked, ' what was the 



710 BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 



matter, and what had happened.' One of the Indians who spoke 
English bid her say, 'that nothing had happened,' or he would kill 
her. In the bitterness of her anguish she was obliged to comply, and 
answered as she was directed. Having landed his family on the island, 
Mixner gave the alarm about the same time that Armstrong did. 

"In the morning, a party of men crossed from the island to the 
scene of the massacre. The Indians had gone. The faithful dog was 
found, with the lower jaw nearly severed by the tomahawk. The 
bodies were taken to the island and buried. The same day, twenty 
men went in pursuit of the murderers. It was ascertained that they 
were Wyandots, twenty-two in number ; that they had crossed the 
Ohio, went up the Big Jlockhocking several miles, and then travelled 
by land. By the print of the children's feet in the mud, the prisoners 
were known to be still alive, and it was thought they would be slain 
if the Indians were pressed in pursuit. The whites therefore returned. 
The young prisoners were adopted into different families, and appear 
to have been used well. John and Jerry were restored to the whites 
at the close of the war. Elizabeth married, and settled in Canada." 

During the war of 1812, many important events occurred within 
the limits of Ohio, the principal of which were the sieges of Fort 
Meigs, and the assault on Fort Stephenson. Of the first siege of 
Fort Meigs, we have the following account in the Historical Collections 
of Ohio :— 

After the defeat of Winchester at Frenchtown, January 22, 1813, 
General Harrison, with about twelve hundred men, proceeded to the 
rapids of the Maumee, and established his advanced post at their foot. 
The position of the army was then fortified, and called Fort Meigs, in 
honour of Governor Meigs. 

On the breaking up of the ice in Lake Erie, General Proctor, 
with all his disposable force, consisting of regulars and Canadian 
militia from Maiden, and a large body of Indians under their celebrated 
chief, Tecumseh, amounting in the whole to two thousand men, laid 
siege to Fort Meigs. To encourage the Indians, he had promised 
them an easy conquest, and assured them that General Harrison 
should be delivered up to Tecumseh. On the 26th of April, the Bri- 
tish columns appeared on the opposite bank of the river, and established 
their principal batteries on a commanding eminence opposite the fort. 
On the 2Tth, the Indians crossed the river, and established themselves 
in the rear of the American lines. The garrison, not having com- 
pleted their wells, had no water except what they obtained from the 
river, under a constant firing of the enemy. On the first, second, and 
third of May, their batteries kept up an incessant shower of balls and 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 711 



shells upon the fort. On the night of the third, the British erected a 
gun and mortar battery on the left bank of the river, within two hun- 
dred and fifty yards of the American lines. The Indians climbed the 
trees in the neighbourhood of the fort, and poured in a galling fire 
upon the garrison. In this situation, General Harrison received a 
summons from Proctor for a surrender of the garrison, greatly magni- 
fying his means of annoyance ; this was answered by a prompt refusal, 
assuring the British general that if he obtained possession of the fort 
it would not be by capitulation. Apprehensive of such an attack. 
General Harrison had made the governors of Kentucky and Ohio 
■minutely acquainted with his situation, and stated to them the neces- 
sity of reinforcements for the relief of Fort Meigs. His requisitions 
had been zealously anticipated, and General Clay was at this moment 
descending the Miami, with twelve hundred Kentuckians, for his 
relief. 

At twelve o'clock in the night of the fourth, an officer arrived 
from General Clay, with the welcome intelligence of his* approach, 
stating that he was just above the rapids, and could reach him in two 
hours, and requesting his orders. Harrison determined on a general 
sally, and directed Clay to land eight hundred men on the right 
bank, take possession of the British batteries, spike their cannon, 
immediately return to their boats, and cross over to the American 
fort. The remainder of Clay's forces were ordered to land on the left 
bank, and fight their way to the fort, while sorties were to be made 
from the garrison in aid of these operations. Captain Hamilton was 
directed to proceed up the river in a periauger, land a subaltern on the 
left bank, who should be a pilot to conduct General Clay to the fort ; 
and then cross over and station his periauger at the place designated 
for the other division to land. General Clay, having received these 
orders, descended the river in order of battle in solid columns, each 
ofiicer taking position according to his rank. Colonel Dudley, being 
the eldest in command, led the van, and was ordered to take the men 
in the twelve front boats, and execute General Harrison's orders on 
the right bank. He efiected his landing at the place designated with- 
out difficulty. General Clay kept close along the left bank until he 
came opposite the place of Colonel Dudley's landing, but not finding 
the subaltern there, he attempted to cross over and join Colonel Dud- 
ley ; this was prevented by the violence of the current on the rapids, 
and he again attempted to land on the left bank, and efi"ected it with 
only fifty men amid a brisk fire from the enemy on shore, and made 
his way to the fort, receiving their fire until within the protection of 
its guns. The other boats, under the command of Colonel Boswell, 



712 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 




Sortie from Fort I'Aeic 



■were driven furtlier down the current, and landed on the right to join 
Colonel Dudley. Here they were ordered to re-embark, land on the 
left bank, and proceed to the fort. In the mean time, two sorties 
Avere made from the garrison, one on the left in aid of Colonel Bos- 
well, by which the Canadian militia and Indians were defeated, and 
he enabled to reach the fort in safety, and one on the right against 
the British batteries, which was also successful. 

The troops in this attack on the British battery were commanded 
by Colonel John Miller, of the nineteenth United States regiment, 
and consisted of about two hundred and fifty of the seventeenth and 
nineteenth regiments, one hundred twelve-month volunteers, and Cap- 
tain Seebre's company of Kentucky militia. They were drawn up in 
a ravine under the east curtain of the fort, out of reach of the enemy's 
fire ; but to approach the batteries it Avas necessary, after having 
ascended from the ravine, to pass a plain of two hundred yards in 
width, in the woods beyond which Avere the batteries, protected by a 
company of grenadiers, and another of light infantry, upward of two 
hundred strong. These troops Avere flanked on the right by two or 
three companies of Canadian militia, and on the left by a large body 
of Indians under Tecumseh. After passing along the ranks and 
encouraging the men to do their duty, the general placed himself 
upon the battery of the right rear angle, to witness the contest. The 



BOEDER WARS OF OHIO. 



713 




U-cCurnsen. 



troops advanced with loaded but trailed arms. They had scarcely 
reached the summit of the hill when they received the fire of the 
British infantry. It did them little harm ; but the Indians being 
placed in position, and taking sight or aim, did great execution. 
They had not advanced more than fifty yards on the plain before it 
became necessary to halt and close the ranks. This was done with 
as much order by word of command from the officers as if they had 
been on parade. The charge was then made, and the enemy fled with 
so much precipitation that although many were killed none were taken. 
The general, from his position on the battery, seeing the direction 
that a part of them had taken, despatched Major Todd with the re- 



714 BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 



serve of about fifty regulars, who quickly returned with two officers 
and forty-three non-commissioncd officers and privates. In this action 
the volunteers and militia suffered less than the regulars, because 
from their position the latter were much sooner unmasked by the hill, 
and received the first fire of all the enemy. It was impossible that 
troops could have behaved better than they did upon this sortie. 

Colonel Dudley, with his detachment of eight hundred Kentucky 
militia, completely succeeded in driving the British from their batte- 
ries, and spiking the cannon. Having accomplished this object, his 
orders were peremptory to return immediately to his boats and cross 
over to the fort ; but the blind confidence which generally attends 
militia when successful proved their ruin. Although repeatedly or- 
dered by Colonel Dudley, and warned of their danger, and called upon 
from the fort to leave the ground ; and although there was abundant 
time for that purpose before the British reinforcements arrived, yet 
they commenced a pursuit of the Indians, and suffered themselves to 
be drawn into an ambuscade by some feint skirmishing, while the 
British troops and large bodies of Indians were brought up, and inter- 
cepted their return to the river. Elated with their first success, they 
considered the victory as already gained, and pursued the enemy 
nearly two miles into the woods and swamps, where they were sud- 
denly caught in a defile, and surrounded by double their numbers. 
Finding themselves in this situation, consternation prevailed ; their 
line became broken and disordered, and huddled together in unresist- 
ing crowds, they were obliged to surrender to the mercy of the 
savages. Fortunately for these unhappy victims of their own rash- 
ness. General Tecumseh commanded at this ambuscade, and had im- 
bibed since his appointment more humane feelings than his brother 
Proctor. After the surrender, and all resistance had ceased, the In- 
dians, finding five hundred prisoners at their mercy, began the work 
of massacre with the most savage delight. Tecumseh sternly forbade 
it, and buried his tomahawk in the head of one of his chiefs who refused 
obedience. This order, accompanied with this decisive manner of 
enforcing it, put an end to the massacre. Of eight hundred men only 
one hundred and fifty escaped. The residue were slain or made pri- 
soners. Colonel Dudley was severely wounded in the action, and 
afterward tomahawked and scalped. 

Proctor, seeing no prospect of taking the fort, and finding the In- 
dians fast leaving him, raised the siege on the 9th of May, and returned 
with precipitation to Maiden. Tecumseh and a considerable portion 
of the Indians remained in service ; but large numbers left it in dis- 
gust, and were ready to join the Americans. On the left bank, in the 



BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 715 



several sorties of the 5th of May and during the siege, the American 
loss was eighty-one killed and one hundred and eighty-nine wounded. 

When the enemy raised the siege they gave a parting salute, which 
killed ten or twelve, and wounded double that number. " However," 
says one who was present, " we were glad enough to see them off on 
any terms. The next morning found us something more tranquil ; 
we could leave the ditches, and walk about with something more of an 
air of freedom than we had done for the last fourteen days ; and here 
I wish I could present to the reader a picture of the condition we 
found ourselves in when the withdrawal of the enemy gave us time to 
look at each other's outward appearance. The scarcity of water had 
put the washing of our hands and faces, much less our linen, out of 
the question. Many had scarcely any clothing left, and that which 
they wore was so begrimed and torn by our residence in the ditch 
and other means, that we presented the appearance of so many scare- 
crows." 

After the enemy had returned to Maiden, General Harrison repaired 
the fort, and then left for the interior of the state, to hasten the new 
levies of troops. The command of the garrison was intrusted to 
General Green Clay. Shortly after, the second siege of Fort Meigs 
commenced. An account of this, also, we take from the Ohio His- 
torical Collections : — 

On the 20th of July, the boats of the enemy were discovered ascend- 
ing the Miami to Fort Meigs, and the following morning a party of 
ten men were surprised by the Indians, and only three escaped death 
or capture. The force which the enemy had now before the post was 
5000 men under Proctor and Tecumseh, and the number of Indians 
was greater than any ever before assembled on any occasion during 
the war, while the defenders of the fort amounted to but a few hun- 
dred. 

The night of their arrival. General Green Clay despatched Captain 
McCune, of the Ohio militia, to General Harrison, at Lower Sandusky, 
to notify him of the presence of the enemy. Captain McCune was 
ordered to return, and inform General Clay to be particularly cautious 
against surprise, and that every effort would be made to relieve the 
fort. 

It was General Harrison's intention, should the enemy lay regular 
siege to the fort, to select four hundred men, and by an unfrequented 
route reach there in the night, and at any hazard break through the 
lines of the enemy. 

Captain McCune was sent out a second time with the intelligence to 
Harrison, that about eight hundred Indians had been seen from the 



716 BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



fort passing up the Miami, designing, it was supposed, to attack Fort 
Winchester at Defiance. The general, however, believed that it was 
a ruse of the enemy to cover their design upon Upper Sandusky, Lower 
Sandusky, or Cleveland, and accordingly kept out a reconnoitring 
party to watch. 

On the afternoon of the 25th, Captain McCune was ordered by Har- 
rison to return to the fort, and inform General Clay of his situation 
and intentions. He arrived near the fort about daybreak on the fol- 
lowing morning, having lost his way in the night, accompanied by 
James Doolan, a French Canadian. They were just upon the point of 
leaving the forest and entering upon the cleared ground around the 
fort, when they were intercepted by a party of Indians. They imme- 
diately took to the high bank with their horses, and retreated at full 
gallop up the river for several miles, pursued by the Indians, also 
mounted, until they came to a deep ravine, putting up from the river 
in a southerly direction, when they turned upon the river bottom and 
continued a short distance, until they found their further progress in 
that direction stopped by an impassable swamp. The Indians, foreseeing 
their dilemma, from their knowledge of the country, and expecting 
they would naturally follow up the ravine, galloped thither to head 
them off. McCune guessed their intention, and he and his companion 
turned back upon their own track for the fort, gaining, by this manoeu- 
vre, several hundred yards upon their pursuers. The Indians gave a 
yell of chagrin, and followed at their utmost speed. Just as they 
neared the fort, McCune dashed into a thicket across his course, on 
the opposite side of which other Indians had huddled, awaiting their 
prey. When this body of Indians had thought them all .but in their 
possession, again was the presence of mind of jMcCune signally dis- 
played. He wheeled his horse, followed by Doolan, made his way out 
of the thicket by the passage he had entered, and galloped around into 
the open space between them and the river, where the pursuers were 
checked by the fire from the block-house at the western angle of the 
fort. In a few minutes after their arrival, their horses dropped from 
fatigue. The Indians probably had orders to take them alive, as they 
had not fired until just as they entered the fort ; but in the chase, 
McCune had great difficulty in persuading Doolan to reserve his fire 
until the last extremity, and they thei'efore brought in their pieces 
loaded. 

The opportune arrival of McCune no doubt saved the fort, as the 
intelligence he brought was the means of preserving them from an in- 
geniously devised stratagem of Tecumseh, which was put into execution 
that day, and which we here relate. 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 7t7 



Towards evening, the British infantry were secreted in the ravine 
below the fort, and the cavalry in the Avoods above, while the Indians 
were stationed in the forest, on the Sandusky road, not far from the 
fort. About an hour before dark, they commenced a sham battle 
among themselves, to deceive the Americans into the belief that a 
battle was going on between them and a reinforcement for the fort, in 
the hopes of enticing the garrison to the aid of their comrades. It 
was managed with so much skill, that the garrison instantly flew to 
arms, impressed by the Indian yells, intermingled with the roar of 
musketry, that a severe battle Avas being fought. The officers even of 
the highest grades were of that opinion, and some of them insisted 
on being suflered to march out to the rescue. General Clay, although 
unable to account for the firing, could not believe that the general had 
so soon altered his intention, as expressed to Captain ]McCune, not to 
send or come with any troops to Fort Meigs, until there should appear 
further necessity for it. This intelligence in a great measure satisfied 
the officers, but not the men, who were extremely indignant at being 
prevented from going to share the dangers of their commander-in-chief 
and brother soldiers; and perhaps had it not been for the interposi- 
tion of a showCr of rain, which soon put an end to the battle, the 
general might have been persuaded to march out, when a terrible mas- 
sacre of the troops would have ensued. The enemy remained around 
the fort but one day after this, and on the 28th embarked with their 
stores and proceeded down the lake, and a few days after met with a 
severe repulse, in their attempt to storm Fort Stephenson. We are 
informed by a volunteer aid of General Clay, who was in the fort at 
the second siege, that preparations were made to fire the magazine, in 
case the enemy succeeded in an attempt to storm the fort, and thus 
involve all, friend and foe, in one common fate. This terrible alter- 
native was deemed better than to perish under the tomahawks and 
scalping-knives of the savages. 

But one of the most brilliant exploits ever performed within the 
limits of Ohio was the defence of Fort Stephenson by Major Croghan, 
an officer only twenty-one years of age, with one hundred and fifty 
men, against the great army of British and Indians Avhich had besieged 
Fort Meigs. When Harrison learned that the enemy had retired from 
the siege of that fort, he instantly conjectured that they would attack 
Fort Stephenson. A council of war was called, which unanimously 
decided that that fort was untenable against heavy artillery, it being a 
mere stockade, and that, as it was an unimportant post, the garrison 
ought to be withdrawn. An order to evacuate was immediately sent 
to Major Croghan ; but that officer returned answer that he could not 



718 



BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 




Defence of Fort Stephenson. 



leave the fort, as tlie enemy swarmed in the neighbouring woods, and 
that he had determined to defend it. This was a clear disobedience 
of orders, but an explanation afterward set the matter right. The fol- 
lowing account of the siege Ave take from Dawson's Life of Harrison: 
A reconnoitring party which had been sent from head-quarters to 
the shore of the lake, about twenty miles distant from Fort Stephen- 
son, discovered the approach of the enemy by water, on the evening 
of the 31st of July. They returned by the fort after twelve o'clock 
the next day, and had passed it but a few hours, when the enemy 
made their appearance before it. The Indians showed themselves first 
on the hill over the river, and were saluted by a six-pounder, the only 
piece of artillery in the fort, which soon caused them to retire. In 
half an hour the British gunboats came in sight, and the Indian 
forces displayed themselves in every direction, with a view to inter- 
cept the garrison should a retreat be attempted. The six-pounder 
was fired a few times at the gunboats, which was returned by the 
artillery of the enemy. A landing of their troops with a five-and-a- 
half-inch howitzer was effected about a mile below the fort ; and Major 
Chambers, accompanied by Dickson, was despatched towards the fort 
with a flag, and was met on the part of Major Croghan by Ensign 
Shipp, of the seventeenth regiment. After the usual ceremonies, 
Major Chambers observed to Ensign Shipp, that he was instructed 
by General Proctor to demand the surrender of the fort, as he was 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 719 



anxious to spare the effusion of human blood, which he could not do 
should he be under the necessity of reducing it by the powerful force 
of artillery, regulars, and Indians under his command. Shipp replied, 
that the commandant of the fort and its garrison were determined to 
defend it to the last extremity; that no force, however great, could 
induce them to surrender, as they were resolved to maintain their post, 
or to bury themselves in its ruins. Dickson then said that their im- 
mense body of Indians could not be restrained from murdering the 
whole garrison in case of success. " Of which we have no doubt," rejoin- 
ed Chambers, " as we are amply prepared." Dickson then proceeded 
to remark, that it was a great pity so fine a young man should fall into 
the hands of the savages. " Sir, for God's sake, surrender, and prevent 
the dreadful massacre that will be caused by your resistance." Mr. 
Shipp replied, that when the fort was taken, there would be none to 
massacre ; it will not be given up while a man is able to resist. An 
Indian at this moment came out of an adjoining ravine, and, advancing 
to the ensign, took hold of his sword and attempted to wrest it from 
him. Dickson interfered, and, having restrained the Indian, affected 
great anxiety to get him safe into the fort. 

The enemy now opened their fire from their six-pounders in the 
gunboats and the howitzer on shore, which they continued through 
the night with but little intermission and with very little effect. The 
forces of the enemy consisted of five hundred regulars and about eight 
hundred Indians commanded by Dickson, the whole being commanded 
by General Proctor in person. Tecumseh was stationed on the road 
to Fort Meigs with a body of two thousand Indians, expecting to 
intercept a reinforcement on that route. 

Major Croghan through the evening occasionally fired his six- 
pounder, at the same time changing its place occasionally to induce a 
belief that he had more than one piece. As it produced very little 
execution on the enemy, and he was desirous of saving his ammuni- 
tion, he soon discontinued his fire. The enemy had directed their fire 
against the northwestern angle of the fort, which induced the com- 
mander to believe that an attempt to storm his works would be made 
at that point. In the night. Captain Hunter was directed to remove 
the six-pounder to a block-house, from which it would rake that angle. 
By great industry and personal exertion, Captain Hunter soon accom- 
plished this object in secrecy. The embrasure was masked, and the 
piece loaded with a half charge of powder, and double charge of slugs 
and grape-shot. Early in the morning of the 2d, the enemy opened 
their fire from their howitzer and three six-pounders, which they had 
landed in the night, and planted in a point of the woods about two hun- 



720 BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 



dred and fifty yards from the fort. In the evening, about four o'clock, 
they concentrated the fire of all their guns on their northwest angle, 
which convinced Major Croghan that they Avould endeavour to make 
a breach ^nd storm the works at that point ; he therefore immediately 
had that place strengthened as much as possible with bags of flour 
and sand, which were so effectual that the picketing in that place 
sustained no material injury. Sergeant Weaver, with five or six gen- 
tlemen of the Petersburg volunteers and Pittsburg blues, who hap- 
pened to be in the fort, was intrusted with the management of the 
six-pounder. 

Late in the evening, when the smoke of the firing had completely 
enveloped the fort, the enemy proceeded to make the assault. Two 
feints were made towards the southern angle, where Captain Hunter's 
lines were formed ; and, at the same time, a column of three hundred 
and fifty men was discovered advancing through the smoke, within 
twenty paces of the northwestern angle. A heavy galling fire of 
musketry was now opened vipon them from the fort, which threw them 
into some confusion. Colonel Short, who headed the principal column, 
soon rallied his men and led them with great bravery to the brink of 
the ditch. After a momentary pause he leaped into the ditch, calling 
to his men to follow him, and in a few minutes it was full. The 
masked port-hole was now opened, and the six-pounder, at the distance 
of thirty feet, poured such destruction among them that but few who 
had entered the ditch were fortunate enough to escape. A precipitate 
and confused retreat was the immediate consequence, although some 
of the officers attempted to rally their men. The other column, which 
was led by Colonel Warburton and Major Chambers, was also routed 
in confusion by a destructive fire from the line commanded by Captain 
Hunter. The whole of them fled into the adjoining wood, beyond the 
reach of our fire-arms. During the assault, which lasted half an hour, 
the enemy kept up an incessant fire from their howitzer and five six- 
pounders. They left Colonel Short, a lieutenant, and twenty-five 
privates dead in the ditch ; and the total number of prisoners taken 
was twenty-six, most of them badly wounded. Major Muir was 
knocked down in the ditch, and lay among the dead till the darkness 
of the night enabled him to escape in safety. The loss of the garri- 
son was one killed and seven slightly wounded. The total loss of 
the enemy could not be less than one hundred and fifty killed and 
wounded. 

When night came on, which was soon after the assault, the wounded 
in the ditch were in a desperate situation ; complete relief could not 
be brought to them by either side with any degree of safety. Major 



BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 721 



Croghan, however, relieved them as much as possible : he contrived 
to convey them water over the picketing in buckets, and a ditch was 
opened under the pickets, through which those who were able and 
willing were encouraged to crawl into the fort. All who were able 
preferred, of course, to follow their defeated comrades, and many 
others were carried from the vicinity of the fort by the Indians, par- 
ticularly their own killed and wounded; and in the night, about three 
o'clock, the whole British and Indian force commenced a disorderly 
retreat.^ So great was their precipitation, that they left a sail-boat 
containing some clothing and a considerable quantity of military stores ; 
and on the next day, seventy stand of arms and some braces of pistols 
were picked up around the fort. Their hurry and confusion were 
caused by the apprehension of an attack from General Harrison, of 
whose position and force they had probably received an exaggerated 
account. 

It was the intention of General Harrison, should the enemy succeed 
against Fort Stephenson, or should they endeavour to turn his left 
and fall on Upper Sandusky, to leave his camp at Seneca and fall 
back for the protection of that place. But he discovered by the firing 
on the evening of the 1st, that the enemy had nothing but light artil- 
lery, which could make no impression on the fort ; and he knew that 
an attempt to storm it without making a breach, could be successfully 
repelled by the garrison. He therefore determined to wait for the 
arrival of two hundred and fifty mounted volunteers under Colonel 
Rennick, being the advance of seven hundred who were approaching 
by the way of Upper Sandusky, and then to march against the enemy 
and raise the siege, if their force was not still too great for his. On 
the 2d, he sent several scouts to ascertain their situation and .force; 
but the woods were so infested with Indians, that none of them could 
proceed sufficiently near the fort to make the necessary discoveries. 
In the night the messenger arrived at head quarters with intelligence 
that the enemy were preparing to retreat. About nine o'clock Major 
Croghan had ascertained, from their collecting about their boats, that 
they were preparing to embark, and had immediately sent an express 
to the commander-in-chief with this information. The general now 
determined to wait no longer for the reinforcements, and immediately 
set out with the dragoons, with which he reached the fort early in the 
morning, having ordered Generals McArthur and Cass, who had 
arrived at Seneca several days before, to follow him with all the dis- 
posable infantry at that place, and which at this time was about seven 
hundred men, after the numerous sick, and the force necessary to 
maintain the position, were left behind. Finding that the enemy had 

46 



722 



BORDER WARS OF OHIO. 




lattle ^f the Tliamo:- 



flecl entirely from the fort, so as not to be reached by him, and learn- 
ing that Tecumseh was somewhere in the direction of Fort Meigs, 
with two thousand warriors, he immediately ordered the infantry to 
fall back to Seneca, lest Tecumseh should make an attack on that 
place, or intercept the small reinforcements advancing from Ohio. 

In his official report of this affair, General Harrison observes that 
" It will not be among the least of General Proctor's mortifications 
that he has been baffled by a youth who has just passed his twenty- 
first year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle. Gen. 
George R. Clarke." 

Captain Hunter, of the seventeenth regiment, (the second in com- 
mand,) conducted himself with great propriety ; and never was there 
a set of finer young fellows than the subalterns, viz. : Lieutenants 
Johnson and Baylor of the seventeenth, Meeks of the seventh, and 
Ensigns Shipp and Duncan of the seventeenth. Lieutenant Anderson 
of the twenty-fourth was also noticed for his good conduct. Being 
without a command, he solicited Major Croghan for a musket and a 
post to fight at, which he did with the greatest bravery. <' Too much 
praise," says Major Croghan, "cannot be bestowed on the officers, 
non-commissioned officers, and privates under my command, for their 
gallantry and good conduct during the siege." The brevet rank of 



BORDER WARS OP OHIO. 



723 



lieutenant-colonel was immediately conferred on Major Croghan, by 
the president of the United States, for his gallant conduct on this 
occasion. The ladies of Chillicothe also presented him an elegant 
sword, accompanied by a suitable address. 

After the war in the Northwest had been brought to a glorious ter- 
mination by Harrison's victory at the Thames, the settlement pro- 
gressed very rapidly, and the foundation of its present wealth and 
prosperity was securely laid. 





BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 




3^HE territory now forming 
the flourishing state of In- 
diana, was separated from 
Ohio by an act of Congress, 
approved by the president 
of the United States on the 
7th of May, 1800. By 
this act, Indiana was made 
to include the territory 
now forming the State of 
Illinois. William Henry 
Harrison was appointed 
the first governor of Indiana. At that time there were several settle- 
ments in what is now called Indiana. Of these, Vincennes, upon the 
Wabash, was the oldest and most important. It was established by 
the French before any of the Anglo-Saxon race had visited the north- 
west territory. When Canada fell into the hands of the English, the 
French posts in the west followed it. The inhabitants at these places 
were granted many privileges in the matters of religion and govern- 
ment, which made them contented with the British supremacy ; and, 
when the revolutionary war began, they ardently supported the cause 
of the mother country. They were confirmed in this course by a belief 
that the people of the provinces would interfere with their religious 
724 



BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



725 




General George Rogers Clark. 



ceremonies. From these posts, the Indians received supplies of arms 
and ammunition to continue their depredations upon the frontier of 
Kentucky and Virginia. 

Colonel George Rogers Clark, of Kentucky, seeing the true sources 
of the Indian hostilities, conceived the idea of an expedition to get 
possession of them, and, in the summer of 1777, he sent two spies to 
the French settlements to gain intelligence of their disposition and 
defenfces. Soon after, Clark went to Virginia, laid his plans before 
the governor, and obtained his approval, together with authority for 
raising seven companies of volunteers and the requisite supplies. He 
immediately commenced his preparations, and though he had many 
stones in his way, surmounted them with admirable perseverance. 

In the spring of 1778, Colonel Clark, with five companies of volun- 
teers, arrived at the falls of the Ohio, and took possession of an island 
near them. Here he disclosed his daring designs against the enemy's 
posts to his men. One company then deserted him. Undaunted by 



726 BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



this decrease of his force, Clark left the island on the 24th of June, 
and, landing on the shore of Illinois, began a toilsome march for Kas- 
kaskia. With the capture of this place we have here nothing to do. 
It is sufficient to say that the place was taken by surprise, and, by the 
judicious arrangements and devices of Colonel Clark, secured. Caho- 
kia, a neighbouring settlement, was also taken without bloodshed. 

The next object of the daring commander of the expedition, was to 
get possession of Vincennes. From his best intelligence, he judged 
its capture by force impracticable. He then resolved to try the silken 
means of diplomacy. Gaining an interview with M. Gibault, the priest 
of Vincennes, Clark succeeded in leading him to use his influence 
among his flock. Through M. Gibault's representations, the people 
were induced to throw off" allegiance to Great Britain and submit to 
the authority of Virginia. But on the 15th of December, 1778, 
Governor Hamilton, of Detroit, with thirty regulars, fifty volunteei:^, 
and four hundred Indians, arrived at Vincennes and took possession 
of it without opposition. Captain Helm and one private were the only 
garrison, and these men obtained the privilege of the honours of wa7\ 

The situation of Clark now became perilous. Detached parties of 
Indians began to appear in his vicinity, and he was obliged to con- 
centrate his small force. "I could see," says Clark, "but little 
probability of keeping, possession of the country, as my number of 
men was too small to stand a siege, and my situation too remote to 
call for assistance. I made all the preparation I possibly could for 
the attack, and was necessitated to set fire to some of the houses in 
town, to clear them out of the way. But, on the 29th of January, 
1779, in the height of the hurry, a Spanish merchant, (Francis Vigo,) 
who had been at Post Vincennes, arrived and gave the following intel- 
ligence : That Mr. Hamilton had weakened himself by sending his 
Indians against the frontiers, and to block up the Ohio ; that he had 
not more than eighty men in garrison, three pieces of cannon, and 
some swivels mounted ; that the hostile Indians were to meet at Post 
Vincennes in the spring, drive us out of the Illinois, and attack the 
Kentucky settlements, in a body, joined by their southern fi-iends; 
that all the goods were taken from the merchants of Post Vincennes 
for the king's use ; that the troops under Hamilton were repairing the 
fort, and expected a reinforcement from Detroit in the spring ; that 
they appeared to have plenty of all kinds of stores ; that they were 
strict in their discipline, but that he did not believe they were under 
much apprehension of a visit ; and believed that, if we could get there 
undiscovered, we might take the place. In short, we got every infor- 
mation from this gentleman that we could wish for, as he had had 



BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



72T 




An Indian lodae. 



good opportunities, and had taken great pains to inform himself with 
a design to give intelligence." 

Upon this intelligence, Clark's resolution was quickly formed, as 
he said there was but one alternative, "to take or be taken." His 
preparations were immediately commenced, and the people of Kaskas- 
kia and Cahokia cheerfully aided him, collecting supplies, and raising 
two companies of volunteers. 

"To convey our artillery and stores," says Clark, "it was con- 
cluded to send a vessel round by water, so strong that she might force 
her way. A large Mississippi boat was immediately purchased, and 
completely fitted out as a galley, mounting two four-pounders and four 
large swivels. She was manned by forty-six men under the command 
of Captain John Rogers. He set sail on the 4th of February, with 
orders to force his way up the Wabash as high as the mouth of White 
River, and to secrete himself until further orders ; but if he found 



728 BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



himself discovered, to do the enemy all the damage he could, without 
running too great a risk of losing his vessel ; and not to leave the river 
until he was out of hope of our arrival by land ; but by all means to 
conduct himself so as to give no suspicion of our approach by land. 
We had great dependence on this galley. She was far superior to 
any thing the enemy could fit out without building a vessel : and, at 
the worst, if we were discovered, we could build a number of large 
pirogues, such as they possessed, to attend her, and with such a little 
fleet, perhaps, pester the enemy very much ; and, if he saw it our 
interest, force a landing : at any rate, it would be some time before 
they could be a match for us on the water." 

From the simple but forcible account of the expedition, written by 
Clark himself, we quote the following : 

" Every thing being ready, on the 5th of February, after receiving a 
lecture and absolution from the priest, we crossed the Kaskaskia river 
with one hundred and seventy men: marched about three miles and 
encamped, where we lay until the 7th, and set out ; the weather wet, 
(but, fortunately, not cold for the season,) and a great part of the 
plains under water several inches deep. It was difficult and very 
fatiguing marching. My object was now to keep the men in spirits. 
I suffered them to shoot game on all occasions, and feast on it like 
Indian war-dancers ; each company by turns inviting the others to 
their feasts, which Avas the case every night, as the company that was 
to give the feast was always supplied with horses to lay up a sufficient 
store of wild meat in the course of the day : myself and principal 
officers putting on the woodsmen, shouting now and then, and running 
as much through the mud and water as any of them. Thus, insensibly, 
without a murmur, were those men led on to the banks of the Little 
Wabash, which we reached on the 13th, through incredible difficulties, 
far surpassing any thing that any of us had ever experienced. Fre- 
quently the diversions of the night v/ore off the thoughts of the pre- 
ceding day. We formed a camp on a height which we found on the 
bank of a river, and suffered our troops to amuse themselves. I viewed 
this sheet of water for some time with distrust ; but, accusing myself 
of doubting, I immediately set to work, without holding any consulta- 
tion about it, or suffering any body else to do so in my presence, 
ordered a pirogue to be built immediately, and acted as though crossing 
the water would be only a piece of diversion. As but few could work 
at the pirogue at a time, pains were taken to find diversion for the 
rest, to keep them in high spirits. In the evening of the 14th, our 
vessel was finished, manned, and sent to explore the drowned lands on 
the opposite side of the Little Wabash, v/ith private instructions what 



IJ 



BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



729 



report to make, and, if possible, to find some spot of dry land. They 
found about half an acre, and marked the trees from thence back to 
the camp, and made a very favourable report. 

" Fortunately, the 15th happened to be a warm, moist day for the 
season. The channel of the river, where we lay, was about thirty 
yards wide. A scafi'old was built on the opposite shore, (which was 
about three feet under w^ater,) and our baggage ferried across and put 
on it : our horses swam across and received their loads at the scaffold, 
by which time the troops were also brought across, and we began our 
march through the water. 

" By evening, we found ourselves encamped on a pretty height, in 
high spirits, each party laughing at the other in consequence of some- 
thing that had happened in the course of this ferrying business, as they 
called it. A little antic drummer afforded them great diversion by 
floating on his drum, &c. All this was greatly encouraged ; and they 
really began to think themselves superior to other men, and that 
neither the rivers nor the seasons could stop their progress. Their 
whole conversation now was concerning what they would do when 
they got about the enemy. They now began to view the main Wabash 
as a creek, and made no doubt but such men as they were could find 
a way to cross it. They wound themselves up to such a pitch, that 
they soon took Post Vincennes, divided the spoil, and before bedtime 
were far advanced on their route to Detroit. All this was, no doubt, 
pleasing to those of us who had more serious thoughts. We were now 
convinced that the whole of the low country on the Wabash was 
drowned, and that the enemy could easily get to us, if they discovered 
us, and wished to risk an action : if they did not, we made no doubt 
of crossing the river by some means or other : even if Captain Rogers, 
with our galley, did not get to his station agreeable to his appoint- 
ment, we flattered ourselves that all would be well, and marched on 
in high spirits." 

Passing over the toils and incidents of the intervening days, we 
come to the last day's march. 

" This last day's march through the water was far superior to any 
thing the Frenchmen had an idea of: they were backward in speak- 
ing — said that the nearest land to us was a small league, called the 
Sugar camp, on the bank of the [river ?] A canoe was sent off, and 
returned without finding that we could pass. I went in her myself, 
and sounded the water : found it deep as to my neck. I returned 
with a design to have the men transported on board the canoes to the 
Sugar camp, which I knew would spend the whole day and ensuing night, 
as the vessels would pass slowly through the bushes. The loss of so much 



730 BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



time, to men half starved, was a matter of consequence. I would have 
given now a great deal for a day's provisions, or for one of our horses. 
I returned but slowly to the troops, giving myself time to think. On 
our arrival, all ran to hear what was the report. Every eye was fixed 
on me. I unfortunately spoke in a serious manner to one of the officers : 
the whole were alarmed without knowing what I said. I viewed their 
confusion for about one minute, whispered to those near me to do as I 
did, immediately put some water in my hand, poured on powder, 
blackened my face, gave the war-whoop, and marched into the water, 
without saying a word. The party gazed, and fell in, one after an- 
other, without saying a word, like a flock of sheep. I ordered those 
near me to begin a favourite song of theirs : it soon passed through 
the line, and the whole went on cheerfully. I now intended to have 
them transported across the deepest part of the water ; but when 
about waist deep, one of the men informed me that he thought he felt 
a path. We examined, and found it so, and concluded that it kept on 
the highest ground, which it did ; and by taking pains to follow it, we 
got to the Sugar camp without the least difficulty, where there was 
about half an acre of dry ground, at least not under water, where we 
took up our lodging. The Frenchmen that we had taken on the river 
appeared to be uneasy at our situation. They begged that they 
might be permitted to go in the two canoes to town in the night : they 
said that they would bring from their own houses provisions, without 
a possibility of any persons knowing it ; that some of our men should 
go with them, as a surety of their good conduct ; that it was impos- 
sible we could march from that place till the water fell, for the plain 
was too deep to march. Some of the officers believed that it might 
be done. I would not suffer it. I never could well account for this 
piece of obstinacy, and give satisfactory reasons to myself, or any body 
else, why I denied a proposition apparently so easy to execute, and of 
so much advantage : but somethino- seemed to tell me that it should 
not be done ; and it was not done. 

" The most of the Aveather that we had on this march was moist and 
warm for the season. This was the coldest night we had. The ice 
in the morning was from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick 
near the shores and in still water. The morning was the finest we had 
on our march. A little after sunrise, I lectured the whole. What I 
said to them I forget ; but it may be easily imagined by a person that 
could possess my affections for them at that time. I concluded by in- 
forming them that passing the plain that was then in full view, and 
reaching the opposite Avoods, would put an end to their fatigue — that 
in a few hours they would have a sight of their long wished for object — 



BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 731 



and immediately stepped into the water without waiting for any reply. 
A huzza took place. As we generally marched through the water in 
a line, before the third entered I halted and called to Major Bowman, 
ordering him to fall in the rear with twenty-five men, and put to death 
any man who refused to march ; as we wished to have no such person 
among us. The whole gave a cry of approbation, and on we went. 
This was the most trying of all the difficulties we had experienced. I 
generally kept fifteen or twenty of the strongest men next myself; 
and judged from my own feelings what must be that of others. Get- 
ting about the middle of the plain, the water about mid-deep, I found 
myself sensibly failing ; and as there were no trees nor bushes for the 
men to support themselves by, I feared that many of the most weak 
would be drowned. I ordered the canoes to make the land, discharo-e 
their loading, and play backwards and forwards with all diligence and 
pick up the men ; and, to encourage the party, sent some of the 
strongest men forward with orders, when they got to a certain distance, 
to pass the word back that the water was getting shallow ; and when 
getting near the woods to cry out 'Land!' This stratagem had its 
desired effect. The men, encouraged by it, exerted themselves almost 
beyond their abilities, the weak holding by the stronger. The water 
never got shallower, but continued deepening. Getting to the woods 
where the men expected land; the water was up to my shoulders ; but 
gaining the woods was of great consequence. All the low men and 
the weakly hung to the trees, and floated on the old logs, until they 
were taken off by the canoes. The strong and tall got ashore and 
built fires. Many would reach the shore, and fall with their bodies 
half in the water, not being able to support themselves without it. 

" This was a delightful dry spot of ground of about ten acres. We 
soon found that the fires answered no purpose ; but that two strong 
men taking a weaker one by the arms was the only way to recover 
him, and, being a delightful day, it soon did. But, fortunately, as if 
designed by Providence, a canoe of Indian squaws and children was 
coming up to town, and took through part of this plain as a nigh way. 
It was discovered by our canoes as they were out after the men. 
They gave chase and took the Indian canoe, on board of which was 
near half a quarter of a buffalo, some corn, tallow, kettles, &c. This 
was a grand prize, and was invaluable. Broth was immediately made 
and served out to the most weakly with great care : most of the whole 
got a little ; but a great many gave their part to the weakly, jocosely 
saying something cheering to their comrades. This little refreshment, 
and fine weather, by the afternoon gave new life to the whole. Cross- 
ing a narrow, deep lake in the canoes, and marching some distance, 



732 BOEDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



■we came to a copse of timber called the Warrior's Island. We were 
now in full view of the fort and town, not a shrub between us, at about 
two miles' distance. Every man now feasted his eyes, and forgot that 
he had suffered any thing — saying that all that had passed was owing 
to good policy, and nothing but v/hat a man could bear ; and that a 
soldier had no right to think, &c. — passing from one extreme to an- 
other, which is common in such cases. It was now we had to display 
our abilities. The plain between us and the town was not a perfect 
level. The sunken grounds were covered with water full of ducks. 
We observed several men out on horseback, shooting them, within 
a half mile of us, and sent out as many of our active young Frenchmen 
to decoy and take one of these men prisoner, in such a manner as not 
to alarm the others, which they did. The information we got from 
this person was similar to that which we got from those we took on 
the river, except that of the British having that evening completed 
the wall of the fort, and that there were a good many Indians in town. 

" Our situation was now truly critical, no possibility of retreating 
in case of defeat, and in full view of a town that had at this time up- 
wards of six hundred men in it, troops, inhabitants, and Indians. 
The crew of the galley, though not fifty men, would have been now a 
reinforcement of immense magnitude to our little army, (if I may so 
call it,) but we would not think of them. We were now in the situa- 
tion that I had laboured to get ourselves in. The idea of being made 
prisoner was foreign to almost every man, as they expected nothing 
but torture from the savages if they fell into their hands. Our fate 
was now to be determined, probably in a few hours. We knew that 
nothing but the most daring conduct would ensure success. I knew 
that a number of the inhabitants Avished us well — that many were 
lukewarm to the interest of either — and I also learned that the grand 
chief, the Tobacco's son, had, but a few days before, openly declared 
in council with the British, that he was a brother and friend to the 
Big Knives." 

These being favourable circumstances. Colonel Clark issued a pla- 
card to the inhabitants, announcing his determination to take the 
town that night, and requesting all the friends of America to remain 
in their houses. If taken in arms, a severe punishment was threat- 
ened. This placard decided the wavering friends of the expedition 
and astonished its enemies. We again quote from Clark, whose 
narrative is worthy of Cnesar himself, and in every portion displays 
the iron will and fertile mind of a military genius : 

" A little before sunset we moved and displayed ourselves in full 
view of the town — crowds gazing at us. We were plunging ourselves 



BORDER WARS OP INDIANA. 



733 




Tecumseh and fho Prophet. 



into certain destruction, or success. There was no midway thought 
of. We had but little to say to our men, except inculcating an idea 
of the necessity of obedience, &c. We knew they did not want 
encouraging ; and that any thing might be attempted with them that 
was possible for such a number — perfectly cool, under proper subordi- 
nation, pleased with the prospect before them, and much attached to 



734 BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



their officers. They all declared that they were convinced that an 
implicit obedience to orders Avas the only thing that would ensure suc- 
cess — and hoped that no mercy would be shoAvn the person that should 
violate them. Such language as this from soldiers, to persons in our 
situation, must have been exceedingly agreeable. We moved on slowly 
in full view of the town ; but as it was a point of some consequence 
to us to make ourselves appear as formidable, we, in leaving the covert 
that we were in, marched and counter-marched in such a manner that 
we appeared numerous. In raising volunteers in the Illinois, every 
person that set about the business had a set of colours given him, 
which they brought with them, to the amount of ten or twelve pairs. 
These were displayed to the best advantage ; and as the low plain we 
marched through was not a perfect level, but had frequent risings in 
it seven or eight feet higher than the common level, (which was covered 
with water,) and as these risings generally run in an oblique direction 
to the town, we took the advantage of one of them, inarching through 
the water under it, which completely prevented our being numbered : 
but our colours showed considerably above the heights, as they were 
fixed on long poles procured for the purpose, and at a distance made 
no despicable appearance : and as our young Frenchmen had, while 
we lay on the Warrior's Island, decoyed and taken several fowlers, 
with their horses, officers Avere mounted on these horses, and rode 
about more completely to deceive the enemy. In this manner we 
moved, and directed our march in such a way as to suffer it to be dark 
before we had advanced more than half way to the town. We then sud- 
denly altered our direction, and crossed ponds where they could not have 
suspected us, and about eight o'clock gained the heights back of the 
town. As there was yet no hostile appearance, we were impatient to 
have the cause unriddled. Lieutenant Bayley was ordered with four- 
teen men to march and fire on the fort. The main body moved in a 
different direction, and took possession of the strongest part of the 
town. 

" The firing now commenced on the fort ; but they did not believe 
it was an enemy until one of their men was shot down through a port ; 
as drunken Indians frequently saluted the fort after night. The drums 
now sounded, and the business fairly commenced on both sides. Rein- 
forcements were sent to the attack of the garrison, while other arrange- 
ments were making in town. We now found that the garrison had 
known nothing of us : that having finished the fort that evening, 
they had amused themselves at different games, and had just retired 
before my letter arrived, as it -wtis near roll-call. The placard being 
made public, many of the inhabitants were afraid to show themselves 



BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 735 



out of the houses, for fear of giving offence ; and not one dare give 
information.* Our friends flew to the commons and other convenient 
places to view the pleasing sight. This was observed from the gai'ri- 
son, and the reason asked, but a satisfactory excuse was given ; and 
as a part of the town lay between our line of march and the garrison, 
we could not be seen by the sentinels on the walls. Captain W. Shan- 
non and another being some time before taken prisoners by one of 
their scouting parties, and that evening brought in, the party had dis- 
covered at the Sugar camp some signs of us. They supposed it to be 
a party of observation that intended to land on the height some dis- 
tance below the town. Captain Lamotte was sent to intercept them. 
It was at him the people said they were looking, when they were asked 
the reason of their unusual stir. Several suspected persons had been 
taken to the garrison : among them was Mr. Moses Henry. Mrs. 
Henry went, under the pretence of carrying him provisions, and whis- 
pered him the news and what she had seen. Mr. Henry conveyed it 
to the rest of his fellow-prisoners, which gave them much pleasure, 
particularly Captain Helm, who amused himself very much during the 
siege, and I believe did much damage. 

" Ammunition was scarce with us, as the most of our stores had 
been put on board the galley. Though her crew was but few, such a 
reinforcement to us at this time would have been invaluable in many 
instances. But, fortunately, at the time of its being reported that the 
whole of the goods in the town were to be taken for the king's use, 
(for which the owners were to receive bills,) Colonel Legras, Major 
Bosseron, and others, had buried the greatest part of their powder and 
ball. This was immediately produced ; and we found ourselves well 
supplied by those gentlemen. 

" The Tobacco's son being in town with a number of warriors, im- 
mediately mustered them, and let us know that he wished to join us, 
saying that by the morning he would have a hundred men. He re- 
ceived for answer that we thanked him for his friendly disposition ; 
and as we were sufficiently strong ourselves, we wished him to desist, 
and that we would counsel on the subject in the morning ; and as we 
knew that there were a number of Indians in and near the town that 
were our enemies, some confusion might happen if our men should mix 
in the dark ; but hoped that we might be favoured with his counsel and 
company during the night — which was agreeable to him. 

* " The town immediately surrendered with joy, and assisted at the siege."— Letter 
(dated Kaskaskia, Illinois, April 29, 1779,) from Col. Clark to the Governor of Vir- 
ginia. 



736 BOEDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



" The garrison was soon completely surrounded, and the firing con- 
tinued without intermission, (except about fifteen minutes a little before 
day,) until about nine o'clock the following morning. It was kept up 
by the whole of the troops, — -joined by a few of the young men of the 
town, who got permission — except fifty men kept as a reserve. I 
had made myself fully acquainted with the situation of the fort and 
town, and the parts relative to each. The cannon of the garrison was on 
the upper floors of strong block-houses at each angle of the fort, eleven 
feet above the surface ; and the ports so badly cut that many of our 
troops lay under the fire of them within twenty or thirty yards of the 
walls. They did no damage except to the buildings of the town, some 
of which they much shattered ; and their musketry, in the dark, em- 
ployed against woodsmen covered by houses, pailings, ditches, the 
banks of the river, &c., was but of little avail, and did no injury to us 
except wounding a man or two. As we could not afford to lose men, 
great care was taken to preserve them sufiiciently covered, and to keep 
up a hot fire in order to intimidate the enemy as well as to destroy 
them. The embrasures of their cannon were frequently shut, for our 
riflemen, finding the true direction of them, would pour in such vol- 
leys when they were opened that the men could not stand to the guns : 
seven or eight of them in a short time got cut down. Our troops would 
frequently abuse the enemy, in order to aggravate them to open their 
ports and fire their cannon, that they might have the pleasure of cut- 
ting them down with their rifles — fifty of which perhaps would be 
levelled the moment the port flew open : and I believe that if they had 
stood at their artillery the greater part of them would have been de- 
stroyed in the course of the night, as the greater part of our men lay 
within thirty yards of the walls ; and in a few hours were covered 
equally to those within the walls, and much more experienced in that 
mode of fighting. Sometimes an irregular fire, as hot as possi- 
ble, was kept up from different directions for a few minutes, and then 
only a continued scattering fire at the ports as usual ; and a great 
noise and laughter immediately commenced in different parts of the 
town, by the reserved parties, as if they had only fired on the fort a 
few minutes for amusement ; and as if those continually firing at the 
fort were only regularly relieved. Conduct similar to this kept the 
garrison constantly alarmed. They did not know what moment they 
might be stormed or blown up, as they could plainly discover that we 
had flung up some entrenchments across the streets, and appeared to 
be frequently very busy under the bank of the river, which was within 
thirty feet of the walls. The situation of the magazine we well knew. 
Captain Bowman began some works in order to blow it up, in case our 



BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 737 



artillery should arrive : but as we knew that we were daily liable to be 
overpowered by the numerous bands of Indians on the river, in case 
they had again joined the enemy, (the certainty of which we were 
unacquainted with,) we resolved to lose no time, but to get the fort in 
our possession as soon as possible. If the vessel did not arrive before 
the ensuing night, we resolved to undermine the fort, and fixed on the 
spot and plan of executing this work, which we intended to commence 
the next day. 

" The Indians of different tribes that were inimical, had left the 
town and neighbourhood. Captain Lamotte continued to hover about 
it, in order, if possible, to make his way good into the fort. Parties 
attempted in vain to surprise him, A few of his party were taken, 
one of which was Maisonville, a famous Indian partizan. Two lads 
had captured him, tied him to a post in the street, and fought from 
behind him as a breast-work — supposing that the enemy would not fire 
at them for fear of killing him, as he would alarm them by his voice. 
The lads were ordered, by an officer who discovered them at their 
amusement, to untie their prisoner, and take him off to the guard, 
which they did ; but were so inhuman as to take part of his scalp on 
the way ; there happened to him no other damage. As almost the 
whole of the persons who were most active in the Department of De- 
troit, were either in the fort or with Captain Lamotte, I got extremely 
uneasy, for fear that he would not fall into our power ; knowing that 
he would go off, if he could not get into the fort in the course of the 
night. Finding that, without some unforeseen accident, the fort must 
inevitably be ours, and that a reinforcement of twenty men, although 
considerable to them, would not be of great moment to us in the pre- 
sent situation of affairs, and knowing that we had weakened them by 
killing or wounding many of their gunners, after some deliberation, 
we concluded to risk the reinforcement in preference of his going again 
among the Indians : the garrison had at least a month's provisions, 
and if they could hold out, in the course of that time he might do us 
much damage. A little before day the troops were withdrawn from 
their positions about the fort, except a few parties of observation, and 
the firing totally ceased. Orders were given, in case of Lamotte's 
approach, not tg alarm or fire on him, without a certainty of killing 
or taking the whole. In less than a quarter of an hour he passed 
within ten feet of an ofiicer and a party that lay concealed. Ladders 
were flung over to them, and as they mounted them our party shouted ; 
many of them fell from the top of the walls — some within, and others 
back ; but as they were not fired on they all got over, much to the joy 
of their friends. But, on considering the matter they must have been 

47 



738 BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



convinced that it was a scheme of ours, to let them in ; and that we 
were so strong as to care but little about them, or the manner of their 
getting into the garrison. The firing immediately commenced on 
both sides with double vigour ; and I believe that more noise could not 
have been made by the same number of men : their shouts could not 
be heard for the firearms ; but a continual blaze was kept around the 
garrison, without much being done, until about day-break, when our 
troops were drawn off to posts prepared for them, about sixty or seventy 
yards from the fort. A loop-hole then could scarcely be darkened but 
a rifle ball would pass through it. To have stood to their cannon would 
have destroyed their men, without a probability of doing much service. 
Our situation was nearly similar. It would have been imprudent in 
either party to have wasted their men, without some decisive stroke 
required it. 

" Thus the attack continued, until about nine o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 24th. Learning that the two prisoners they had brought 
in the day before, had a considerable number of letters with them, I 
supposed it an express that we expected about this time, which I knew 
to be of the greatest moment to us, as we had not received one since 
our arrival in the country : and not being fully acquainted with the 
character of our enemy, we were doubtful that those papers might be 
destroyed ; to prevent which, I sent a flag, (with a letter,) demanding 
the garrison." 

In this letter Colonel Clark informed the governor that if he was 
obliged to storm, the garrison might depend upon the treatment justly 
due to murderers. Governor Hamilton requested three days' truce, 
which, of course, Clark refused to grant. An interview then took place 
between the American commander and the governor, in which the former 
in a firm and dignified manner refused to accede to any terms but the 
surrender of the garrison at discretion, and sternly denounced as mur- 
derers those of the British who had stimulated the Indian hostilities. 
But the oflicer-like conduct of Governor Hamilton caused the Colonel to 
relent, and to give the garrison honourable terms. On the 25th, the 
garrison, numbering seventy-nine men, was surrendered prisoners of 
war, and on the 27th, the galley hove in sight, with the artillery and 
the rest of Clark's men. The American flag was then floating over 
Vincennes, and an expedition which in conception and'execution rivals 
the most celebrated of ancient or modern times, was thus brought to 
a glorious termination. 

Vincennes was destined to be the theatre of other important events 
at a later period. In 1807 and 1808, the people of the frontier be- 
came alarmed at the prospect of a renewal of the horrors of savage 



BCRDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



739 




warfare. The activity and eloquence of Tecumseh and the Prophet 
were then exerted for the formation of a great Indian confederacy, 
the avowed object of which was to oppose '< a dam to the mighty waters 
of civilization." Whether Tecumseh had hostile designs in this work, 
or whether he merely desired the confederacy as a defensive institu- 
tion, must remain poised in doubt. However this may be, Harrison 
concluded the designs of the Indians were hostile, and commenced 
preparations for a struggle. 

In August, 1810, Tecumseh, with a body of warriors, visited Vin- 
cennes to see Governor Harrison. In the council, the real position was 
ascertained. The following account of it is given in Drake's Life of 
Tecumseh : — 

Governor Harrison had made arrangements for holding the council 
on the portico of his own house, which had been fitted up with scats 
for the occasion. Here, on the morning of the fifteenth, he awaited 
the arrival of the chief, being attended by the judges of the Supreme 
Court, some officers of the army, a sergeant and twelve men from Fort 
Knox, and a large number of citizens. At the appointed hour, Te- 



740 BORDER WARS OF INDIANA, 



cumseh, supported by forty of his principal warriors, made liis appear- 
ance, the remainder of his followers being encamped in the village and 
its environs. When the chief had approached within thirty or forty 
yards of the house, he suddenly stopped, as if awaiting some advances 
from the governor ; an interpreter was sent, requesting him and his 
followers to take seats on the portico. To this Tecumseh objected — 
he did not think the place a suitable one for holding the conference, 
but preferred that it should take place in a grove of trees, to which he 
pointed, standing a short distance from the house. The governor said 
he had no objection to the grove, except that there were no seats in 
it for their accommodation. Tecumseh replied, that constituted no 
objection to the grove, the earth being the most suitable place for the 
Indians, who loved to repose upon the bosom of their mother. The 
governor yielded the point, and the benches and chairs having been 
removed to the spot, the conference was begun, the Indians being 
seated on the grass. 

Tecumseh opened the meeting by stating at length his objections to 
the treaty of Fort Wayne, made by Governor Harrison in the previous 
year ; and in the course of his speech boldly avowed the principle of 
his party to be that of resistance to every cession of land, unless made 
by all the tribes, who, he contended, formed but one nation. He 
admitted that he had threatened to kill the chiefs who signed the 
treaty of Fort \Vayne, and that it was his fixed determination not to 
permit the village chiefs in future to manage their aifairs, but to place 
the power with which they had been heretofore invested in the hands 
of the war chiefs. The Americans, he said, had driven the Indians 
from the sea-coast, and would soon push them into the lakes ; and, 
while he disclaimed all intention of making war upon the United States, 
he declared it to be his unalterable resolution to take a stand, and 
resolutely oppose the further intrusion of the whites upon the Indian 
lands. He concluded by making a brief but impassioned recital of 
the various wrongs and aggressions inflicted by the white men upon 
the Indians, from the commencement of the Revolutionary Avar down 
to the period of that council ; all of which was calculated to arouse 
and inflame the minds of such of his followers as were present. 

The governor rose in reply, and in examining the right of Tecum- 
seh and his party to make objections to the treaty of Fort Wayne, 
took occasion to say that the Indians were not one nation, having a 
common property in the lands. The Miamis, he contended, were the 
real owners of the tract on the Wabash ceded by the late treaty, and 
the Shawnees had no right to interfere in the case; that upon the 
arrival of the whites on this continent they had found the Miamis in 



BORDER AVARS OF INDIANA. 



741 




l''irmness of Harrison at Vincennes. 



possession of this land, the Shawnees being then residents of Georgia, 
from which they had been driven by the Creeks, and that it was ridi- 
culous to assert that the red men constituted but one nation ; for, if 
such had been the intention of the Great Spirit, he would not have 
put different tongues in their heads, but have taught them all to speak 
the same lana;uao;e. 

The governor having taken his seat, the interpreter commenced 
explaining the speech to Tecumseh, who, after listening to a portion 
of it, sprang to his feet and began to speak with great vehemence of 
manner. 

The governor was surprised at his violent gestures, but as he did 
not understand him, thought he Avas making some explanation, and 
suffered his attention to be drawn toward Winneraac, a friendly Indian 
lying on the grass before him, who was renewing the priming of his 
pistol, which he had kept concealed from the other Indians, but in full 
view of the governor. His attention, however, was again directed 
toward Tecumseh, by hearing General Gibson, who was intimately ac- 
quainted with the Shawnee language, say to Lieutenant Jennings, 
" Those fellows intend mischief; you had better bring up the guard." 
At that moment the followers of Tecumseh seized their tomahawks 
and war-clubs, and sprang upon their feet, their eyes turned upon the 
governor. As soon as he could disengage himself from the arm- 



742 



BOEDER "WARS OP INDIANA. 




The Prophet. 



chair in •wliicli he sat, he rose, drew a small sword which he had by 
his side, and stood on the defensive. Captain G. R. Floyd, of the 
army, who stood near him, drew a dirk, and the chief Winnemac cocked 
his pistol. The citizens present were more numerous than the Indians, 
but were unarmed ; some of them procured clubs and brick-bats, and 
also stood on the defensive. The Rev. Mr. Winans, of the Methodist 
church, ran to the governor's house, got a gun, and posted himself at 
the door to defend the family. During this singular scene no one 
spoke, until the guard came running up, and appearing to be in the 
act of firing, the governor ordered them not to do so. He then de- 
manded of the interpreter an explanation of what had happened, who 
replied that Tecumseh had interrupted him, declaring that all the 
governor had said was/a?se, and that he and the Seventeen Fires had 
cheated and imposed on the Indians. The governor then told Tecum- 
seh that he was a bad man, and that he would hold no further com- 
munication with him ; that as he had come to Yincennes under the 
protection of a council-fire, he might return in safety, but that he must 
immediately leave the village. Here the council terminated. 

The hostile purpose of the Indians was now clearly manifested. In 
June, 1811, Governor Harrison sent a message to the Shawnees, bid- 
ding them beware of hostilities. Tecumseh replied, and promised to 
visit the governor. The visit was made in July. Nothing of impor- 



BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 743 



tance resulted from this meeting. Both parties seemed determined 
to make no concessions. Tecumseh soon afterward went south, to 
enlist the Creeks in his cause. The Prophet remained in his town on 
the banks of the Tippecanoe. Harrison increased his regular force, 
and, while he warned the Indians to obey the treaty of Greenville, 
prepared to crush the Prophet's town if necessary. On the 5th of 
October, he was on the Wabash, sixty miles above Vincennes. There 
he built Fort Harrison. 

Leaving a garrison in Fort Harrison sufficient to resist the attack 
of any number of Indians, Governor Harrison marched into the Indian 
country, and on the evening of the 5th of November, encamped within 
nine miles of the Prophet's town. The next morning he resumed his 
march, but no Indians were discovered till he had arrived within six 
miles of the town. The interpreters were then placed with the ad- 
vanced guard, in order to open a communication with them if possible. 
But their efforts were vain. Parties of Indians were frequently seen, 
but they paid no attention to the invitation of the Americans ; and 
all their attempts to open a communication and come to an under- 
standing with them were vain. When they came within two miles of 
the town, the path descended a steep hill, at the bottom of which was 
a small creek running through a narrow wet prairie ; and, beyond 
this, a level plain partially covered with oak timber, and without un- 
derbrush. This was a very good situation for the savages to make 
an attack upon the Americans, and Harrison, supposing he would be 
assailed, proceeded with the greatest caution. His march was, how- 
ever, not interrupted, and he arrived safely before the town. He now 
sent Captain Dubois to the Prophet to treat for peace. But in a few 
moments he returned, and stated that the Indians were near in con- 
siderable numbers, but would make no answer to the interpreter, though 
they were near enough to hear what was said. 

Harrison resolved no longer to hesitate about treating the Indians 
as enemies. He therefore ranged his troops in order of battle, and 
■was marching against them, when he met with three Indians sent to 
him by the Prophet. An interview was held with them ; and, after 
some consideration, it was resolved that no hostilities should take place 
before next morning, when a conference should be held with the prin- 
cipal chiefs, and terms of peace agreed on. The army now proceeded 
to a creek northwest of the village, and bivouacked on a bank of dry 
oak land, considerably elevated, and situated between two prairies. 
The infantry, in two columns, occupied the front and rear, separated 
on the left one hundred and eighty yards, and on the right about 
half that distance. The left flank was covered by two companies of 



744 BORDER WARS OF INDIANA. 



mounted riflemen, containing one hundred and fifty rank and file, 
commanded by Major-General Wells, of Kentucky; and the right 
flank by Spencer's troop of mounted riflemen, to the number of eighty. 
The front lino M'as composed of one battalion of the fourth regiment 
of the United States infantry, under the command of Major Floyd, 
flanked on the right by two companies of militia, and on the left by 
one. The rear line "was formed of another battalion of the fourth 
United States infantry, under Colonel Baen, acting major, flanked by 
four companies of militia, under Lieutenant-Colonel Decker. Two 
troops of dragoons, sixty strong, took post in the rear of the left flank ; 
and another, somewhat stronger, in the rear of the front line. To 
guard against a night attack, the order of encampment was appointed 
the order of battle ; and each man rested upon his arms. 

The order given to the army, in the event of a night attack, was 
for each corps to maintain its ground at all hazards till relieved. The 
dragoons were directed in such case to parade dismounted, with their 
swords on and their pistols in their belts, and to wait for orders. The 
guard for the night consisted of two captains' commands of twenty- 
four men and four non-commissioned ofiicers, and two subalterns' 
guards of twenty men and non-commissioned ofiicers — the whole under 
the command of a field officer of the day. 

Just before reveille, on the morning of the 7th of November, 1811, 
an attack commenced on the left flank, and the pickets were driven 
in. The first notice of the enemy's approach was the usual yell of 
the savages, within a short distance of the line. They had violated 
the armistice agreed upon, to subsist mitil the ensuing day ; which, it 
Avould seem, they had proposed with a view to gain an opportunity of 
surprising their adversaries in their usual manner. Nothing but the 
precaution of encamping in order of battle, and the deliberate firm- 
ness of the officers in counteracting the effects of a surprise, saved the 
army from total defeat. The storm first fell upon Captain Barton's 
regulars and Captain Geiger's mounted riflemen, forming the left 
angle on the rear line. Some Indians forced themselves through the 
line and penetrated into the encampment, where they were killed. The 
companies, thus suddenly and severely attacked, were reinforced with 
all possible speed. A heavy fire then opened, to the left of the front, 
immediately on the regular companies of Captains Baen, Snelling, and 
Prescot. A gallant charge by the cavalry, from the rear of the front 
line, under Major Davies, was ordered for the purpose of breaking the 
Indians, who appeared in great force among some trees a few yards 
distant in front. The major received a mortal wound, and his men 
were driven back by superior numbers of the enemy. Captain Snell- 



BORDER WARS OP INDIANA. 



745 




Final charge at Tippecanoe. 

ing's company then charged with fixed bayonets, and the enemy were 
dislodged. The enemy's fire now extended along the left flank, 
the whole of the front, the right flank, and part of the rear line! 
Upon Spencer's mounted riflemen, and the right of Warwick's com- 
pany, it was excessively heavy. Captain Spencer and his first and 
second lieutenants were killed ; and Captain Warwick fell, mortally 
wounded. The troops, notwithstanding the fall of their officers, 
bravely maintained their posts until reinforced. Day approached,' 
when Major Wells, reconnoitring the position of the enemy on the 
left, charged and broke them. At this favouring moment, a small 
detachment from the cavalry dashed furiously upon the retreat- 
ing Indians, and precipitated them into the marsh. Simultaneously 
with these successful eff'orts on the left, the enemy were charged on 
the right by the companies of Captain Cook and Lieutenant Larabie, 
supported by the mounted riflemen, who pursued and killed a number 
of Indians in their flight. Driven now at all points, and pursued as 
far as the ground would admit, the Indians dispersed in every direc- 
tion. They were handled so severely in the retreat, that they were 
compelled to abandon many of their killed and wounded on the field, 
which is, with them, evidence of positive defeat. Forty Indians were 
found dead on the field. Numbers were carried off; some of whom 
were discovered the next day, in holes containing two, three, and four 



746 BORDER WARS OP INDIANA. 



bodies, covered, to conceal them from the victorious army. The gene- 
ral estimated their loss, in killed and wounded, at one hundred and 
fifty. Such was the famous battle of Tippecanoe. Tecumseb was 
not engaged in this battle, being absent from that region on an excur- 
sion in the south. 

During the time of the contest, the Prophet kept himself secure on 
an adjacent eminence, singing a war-song. He had told his followers 
that the Great Spirit would render the army of the Americans unsuccess- 
ful, and that their bullets would not hurt the Indians, who would have 
light, while the enemy would be involved in thick darkness. Soon 
after the battle commenced, he Avas informed that his men were falling. 
He told them to fight, it would soon be as he predicted, and then be- 
gan to sing louder. 

The troops throughout displayed the greatest bravery, and effectu- 
ally resisted one of the most furious assaults ever experienced in 
savage warfare. They were saved only by their soldierly conduct. 
Had a panic, in the first onset of the savages, produced disorder, they 
■would probably, to a man, have become the victims of the most merci- 
less of foes. Their loss was severe, both in officers and men, viz. one 
aid-de-camp, one captain, two subalterns, one sergeant, two corporals, 
and thirty privates killed ; two lieutenant-colonels, one adjutant, 
one assistant surgeon, two captains, three subalterns, nine sergeants, 
five corporals, one musician, and one hundred and two privates 
wounded ; besides one major, two captains mortally. 

Governor Harrison, on the 9tli of November, having burned the 
town, and laid waste the surrounding settlement, from which he obliged 
the defeated enemy to fly, returned with his forces into the settled 
country. The Prophet was immediately abandoned by his followers, 
who, on his defeat, lost all faith in his supernatural pretensions. Even 
his life was endangered by the sudden change in the feelings of those 
whom he had too successfully deluded. Most of the Indian tribes 
wdio had been influenced by his impious pretensions, after his expulsion 
from his imagined sanctuary, offered their submission, and sued for 
peace.* 

The scene of the battle of Tippecanoe is on the east bank of the 
river of that name, in Tippecanoe county. The ground was pointed 
out ta Harrison by an Indian chief, as the most eligible site for an 
encampment, and chosen for want of a better. It is a slight emi- 
nence, nearly surrounded by marshy ground. 

Although there were few white settlers in Indiana before 1800, ten 



BORDER WARS OP INDIANA. 



T47 



years after that date, the settlements were numerous. The war of 
1812 and (he depredations of the British and Indians checked the 
progress of the population. But immediately after its conclusion, the 
fertile lands so abundant in the vicinity of the larger streams drew a 
steady train of immigrants. In 1816, the Territory was converted 
into a State with its present limits, and admitted to a place among the 
bright galaxy of the Union. Since that event the increase of the 
wealth and population of Indiana has been rapid and steady. Among 
its immigrants have been a large number from Switzerland, who have 
established themselves in a very fertile district in the southeastern 
extremity of the State. Their industry has been very successfully 
directed to the planting of vineyards and the making of wine. The 
country in which most of these people reside is called Switzerland. 










BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 




"^ HE first settlements made by Euro- 
peans in the West were within the pre- 
sent limits of Illinois. Some French 
^ Jesuits, who accompanied the expedi- 
•' tion of the unfortunate La Salle, fixed 
themselves at Kashaslda and Cahokia, 
where they made many converts among 
the Indians, and established perma- 
% nent missions. In 1720, several fami- 
lies emigrated from Canada to the 
vicinity of the Jesuit missions, and in 
the course of a few years afterward, Kaskaskia and Cahokia became 
thriving settlements. They were situated on or near the Kaskaskia 
river. 

In 1763, after the English had gained possession of Canada and 
the greater part of the territory east of the Mississippi, a small body 
of their troops was placed in garrison at Fort Chartres, on the Mis- 
748 



BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 749 



sissippi, about eighteen miles from Kaskaskia, and the British com- 
mandant of Illinois fixed his head-quarters at that place. Of the French 
population, while some took the oath of fidelity and obedience to the 
government of Great Britain, and continued to occupy their ancient 
possessions, others removed to the territories on the western side of the 
Mississippi river, where the authority of France was still in force, 
although the country had been ceded to Spain. 

In 1774, the British government, "smelling the battle afar off" 
between the provinces and the mother country, adopted measures to 
secure the attachment of the French inhabitants of Canada and the 
Northwest Territory. By the act of parliament known as the Quebec 
Act, these people were brought within the limits of the province of 
Quebec, and under its laws assured of the free exercise of their reli- 
gion, as far as was compatible with the articles of capitulation. These 
liberal grants had the desired effect. When the long looked-for strug- 
gle began, the French inhabitants were found upon the side of the 
mother country, enlisting the Indians in her service, and supplying 
them with the material for prosecuting their destructive warfare. After 
the Declaration of Independence, the British governor of Detroit sent 
messages to the French settlements, inciting them to send out war- 
parties of savages, and offering rewards for scalps. 

The effect of the depredations thus countenanced and stimulated by 
the British authorities was to awaken the speedy vengeance of the 
Kentuckians, under their sagacious commander. Col. George Rogers 
Clark.^ Of the capture of Kaskaskia, we have this account'in Cla'rk's 
Memoirs : — 

" On the 4th of July, in the evening, we got within a few miles of 
the town, where we lay until near dark, keeping spies ahead, after 
which we commenced our march, and took possession of a house wherein 
a large family lived, on the bank of the Kaskaskia river, about three- 
quarters of a mile above the town. Here we were informed that the 
people a few days before were under arms, but had concluded that the 
cause of the alarm was without foundation ; and that at that time there 
was a great number of men in town, but that the Indians had generally 
left it, and at present all was quiet. We soon procured a sufiiciency 
of vessels, the more in ease to convey us across the river. With 
one of the divisions I marched to the fort, and ordered the other 
two mto different quarters of the town. If I met with no resistance, 
at a certain signal a general shout was to be given, and certain parts 
were to be immediately possessed ; and men of each detachment, who 
could speak the French language, were to run through every street and 
proclaim what had happened ; and inform the inhabitants that every 



750 BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



person that appeared in the streets would be shot down. This dispo- 
sition had its desired effect. In a very little time we had complete 
possession ; and every avenue was guarded, to prevent any escape, to 
give the alarm to the other villages in case of opposition. Various 
orders had been issued not Avorth mentioning. I don't suppose greater 
silence ever reigned among the inhabitants of a place than did at this 
at present : not a person to be seen, not a word to be heard by them 
for some time ; but, designedly, the greatest noise kept up by our 
troops through every quarter of the town, and patrols continually the 
whole night round it ; as intercepting any information was a capital 
object ; and in about two hours the whole of the inhabitants were dis- 
armed, and informed that if one was taken attempting to make his 
escape, he should be immediately put to death." 

After raising the terror of the French to a great height, Clark 
surprised and won them over to his interest by performing various just 
and generous acts. A deputation of the inhabitants waited on Clark, 
and said, " that their present situation was the fate of war, and that 
they could submit to the loss of their property ; but they solicited that 
they might not be separated from their wives and children ; and that 
some clothes and provisions might be allowed for their support." Clark 
feigned surprise at this request, and abruptly exclaimed, " Do you 
mistake us for savages ? I am almost certain you do, from your lan- 
guage ! Do you think that Americans intend to strip women and 
children, or take the bread out of their mouths ? My country- 
men," continued he, " disdain to make war upon helpless innocence. 
It was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon our own wives 
and children, that we have taken arms and penetrated into this remote 
stronghold of British and Indian barbarity ; and not the despicable 
prospect of plunder. That now the king of France had united his 
powerful arms with those of America, the war would not, in all proba- 
bility, continue long ; but the inhabitants of Kaskaskia were at liberty 
to take which side they pleased, without the least danger to either their 
property or families. Nor would their religion be any source of dis- 
agreement ; as all religions were regarded with equal respect in the 
eye of the American law, and that any insult offered it would be im- 
mediately punished. And now, to prove my sincerity, you will please 
inform your fellow citizens, that they are quite at liberty to conduct 
themselves as usual, without the least apprehension. I am now con- 
vinced, from what I have learned since my arrival among you, that 
you have been misinformed, and prejudiced against us by British offi- 
cers ; and your friends who are in confinement shall immediately be 
released." In a few minutes after the delivery of this speech, the 



BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



753 





Detroit. 



gloom that rested on the minds of the inhabitants of Kaslcaskia had 
passed away. The news of the treaty of alliance between France and 
the United States, and the influence of the magnanimous conduct of 
Clark, induced the French villagers to take the oath of allegiance to 
the State of Virginia. Their arms were restored to them, and a volun- 
teer company of French militia joined a detachment under Captain 
Bowman, when that officer was despatched to take possession of Ca- 
hokia. The inhabitants of this small village, on hearing what had 
taken place at Kaskaskia, readily took the oath of allegiance to Vir- 
ginia. 

The French inhabitants of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Post Vincennes 
having taken the oath of allegiance to Virginia, the general assembly 
of that State passed an act creating Illinois county, including these 
settlements. 

On the day following the surrender of Vincennes, Colonel Clark 
sent a detachment of sixty men up the Wabash to intercept some boats 
which were laden with goods and provisions from the British post of 
Detroit. The detachment, under the command of Captain Helms, 
proceeded, in three armed boats, one hundred and sixty miles up the 
river, when the British boats, seven in number, were completely sur- 
prised and captured without firing a gun. The number of prisoners 
taken was forty, among whom was a magistrate of Detroit. Clark 
took the provisions for the public use, and divided the goods, except 
about .£800 worth, among his troops. 

48 



754 BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



In the fall of 1780, La Balme, a Frenchman, with between twenty 
and thirty men, started for Kaskaskia, with the intention of attempt- 
ing the capture of Detroit. At Vincennes he was joined by a small 
number of men, and he then moved up the Wabash to the British 
trading-post Kekionga, at the head of the Maumee. There the party 
plundered the traders and Indians. La Balme seems to have pos- 
sessed but a mite of prudence ; his conduct drew on him the ven- 
geance of the Miamis. While he was encamped at the river Aboite, 
he was attacked, defeated, and, with several of his men, slain. This 
broke up the enterprise.* 

In 1800, Illinois contained but three thousand white inhabitants. 
Immigration became more rapid after that period, however, and, in 
1809, a territorial government was given to the country. In 1810, 
the territory contained twelve thousand inhabitants. In 1812, a 
complete territorial government was organized, with an assembly and 
a deleo;ate to Conciress. 

During the war of 1812, several events of deep interest occurred 
within the limits of Illinois. Of these, the massacre of the greater 
part of the garrison of Chicago claims the first attention. On the site 
of the present city of Chicago, a, fort had been erected in 1803, and 
a small garrison stationed in it. Around the fort, and under its pro- 
tection, several families had clustered, built cabins, and began to cul- 
tivate the ground. The large and pov/erful tribe of Pottawatomies 
occupied the neighbouring country. When the war broke out, the 
garrison consisted of fifty men, commanded by Captain Ileald. As 
it was remote from the other American posts, it should have been 
withdrawn or strengthened. The first was thought advisable by Gen. 
Hull, and ordered ; but it was too late. The following account of the 
state of aff'airs at Chicago and the massacre, we take from Brown's 
History of Illinois : — 

On the 7th of August, 1812, in the afternoon, Winnemeg, or Catfish, 
a friendly Indian of the Pottawatomie tribe, arrived at Chicago, and 
brought despatches from General Hull, containing the first, and, at 
that time, the only intelligence of the declaration of war. General 
Hull's letter announced the capture of Mackinaw, and directed Cap- 
tain Heald " to evacuate the fort at Chicago if practicable, and, in 
that event, to distribute all the United States property contained in 
the fort, and the United States factory or agency, among the Indians 
in the neighbourhood, and repair to Fort Wayne." Winnemeg having 
delivered his despatches to Captain Heald, and stated that he was 
acquainted with the purport of the communication he had brought, 

* Dillon's History of Indiana. 



BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 757 



urged upon Captain Ileald the policy of remaining in the fort, being 
supplied, as thej were, with ammunition and provisions for a consi- 
derable time. In case, however. Captain Heald thought proper to 
evacuate the place, he urged upon him the propriety of doing so 
immediately, before the Pottawatomies (through whose country they 
must pass, and who were as yet ignorant of the object of his mission) 
could collect a force sufficient to oppose them. This advice, though 
given in great earnestness, was not sufficiently regarded by Captain 
Heald; who observed, that he should evacuate the fort, but having* 
received orders to distribute the public property among the Indians, 
he did not feel justified in leaving it until he had collected the Potta- 
watomies in its vicinity, and made an equitable distribution among 
them. Winnemeg then suggested the expediency of marching out 
and leaving every thing standing; " while the Indians," said he, " are 
dividing the spoils, the troops will be able to retreat without molesta- 
tion." This advice was also unheeded, and an order for evacuating 
the fort was read next morning on parade. Captain Heald, in issuing 
it, had neglected to consult his junior officers, as it would have been 
natural for him to do in such an emergency, and as he probably would 
have done had there not been some coolness between him and Ensign 
Ronan. 

The lieutenant and ensign, after the promulgation of this order, 
waited on Captain Heald to learn his intentions; and being apprized, 
for the first time, of the course he intended to pursue, they remon- 
strated against it. "We do not," said they to Captain Heald, "be- 
lieve that our troops can pass in safety through the country of the 
Pottawatomies to Fort Wayne. Although a part of their chiefs were 
opposed to an attack upon us last autumn, they were actuated by 
motives of private friendship for some particular individuals, and not 
from a regard to the Americans in general ; and it can hardly bo 
supposed that, in the present excited state of feeling among the In- 
dians, those chiefs will be able to influence the whole tribe, now thirst- 
ing for vengeance. Besides," said they, " our march must be slow, 
on account of the women and children. Our force, too, is small; 
some of our soldiers are superannuated, and some of them are invalids. 
We think, therefore, as your orders are discretionary, that we had i 
better fortify ourselves as strongly as possible, and remain where we 
are. Succour may reach us before we shall be attacked from Macki- 
naw ; and, in case of such an event, we had better fall into the hands 
of the English than become victims of the savages." Captain Heald 
replied, that his force was inadequate to contend with the Indians, 
and that he should be censured were he to continue in garrison, when 



758 ' BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



the prospect of a safe retreat to Fort Wayne was so apparent. He 
therefore deemed it advisable to assemble the Indians and distribute 
the public property among them, and ask of them an escort thither, 
with the promise of a considerable sum of money to be paid on their 
safe arrival ; adding, that he had perfect confidence in the friendly 
professions of the Indians, from whom, as well as from the soldiers, 
the capture of Mackinaw had studiously been concealed. 

From this time forward, the junior officers stood aloof from their 
commander, and, considering his project as little short of madness, 
conversed as little upon the subject as possible. Dissatisfaction, how- 
ever, soon filled the camp ; the soldiers began to murmur, and insub- 
ordination assumed a threatening aspect. 

The savages, in the mean time, became more and more trouble- 
some;* entered the fort occasionally, in defiance of the sentinels, and 
even made their way without ceremony into the quarters of its com- 
manding officer. On one occasion an Indian, taking up a rifle, fired 
it in the parlour of Captain Heald ; some were of opinion that this 
was intended as the signal for an attack. The old chiefs at this time 
passed back and forth among the assembled groups, apparently agi- 
tated ; and the squaws seemed much excited, as though some terrible 
calamity was impending. No further manifestations, however, of ill- 
feeling were exhibited, and the day passed without bloodshed. So 
infatuated at this time was Captain Ileald, that he supposed he had 
wrought a favourable impression upon the savages, and that the little 
garrison could now march forth in safety. 

From the 8th to the 12th of August, the hostility of the Indians 
was more and more apparent ; and the feelings of the garrison, and 
of those connected with and dependent upon it for their safety, more 
and more intense. Distrust everywhere at length prevailed, and the 
want of unanimity among the officers was appalling. Every inmate 
retired to rest, expecting to be aroused by the war-whoop ; and each 
returning day was regarded by all as another step on the road to 
massacre. 

The Indians from the adjacent villages having at length arrived, a 
council was held on the 12th of August. It was attended, however, 
only by Captain Heald on the part of the military; the other officers 
refused to attend, having previously learned that a massacre was in- 

* An Indian runner had previously arrived in the Pottawatomie camp -with a mes- 
sage from Tecumseh, informing them of the capture of Mackinaw, the defeat of Van 
Home, and the retreat of General Hull from Canada. He desired them to arm imme- 
diately ; and intimated that he had no doubt but General Hull would, in a short time, 
be compelled to surrender. 



BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



759 




Captain Heald in council witli the Fottawatomios. 



tended. This fact was communicated to Captain Heald ; he insisted, 
however, on their going, and they resolutely persisted in their refusal. 
"When Captain Heald left the fort, they repaired to the blockhouse 
which overlooked the ground where the council was in session, and 
opening the port-holes, pointed their cannon in its direction. This 
circumstance and their absence, it is supposed, saved the whites from 
massacre. 

Captain Heald informed the Indians in council, that he would next 
day distribute among them all the goods in the United States factory, 
together with the ammunition and provisions with which the garrison 
was supplied ; and desired of them an escort to Fort Wayne, promis- 
ing them a reward on their arrival thither, in addition to the presents 
they were about to receive. The savages assented, with professions 
of friendship, to all he proposed, and promised all he required. 

The council was no sooner dismissed, than several, observing the 
tone of feeling which prevailed, and anticipating from it no good to 
the garrison, waited on Captain Heald in order to open his eyes, if 
possible, to their condition. The impolicy of furnishing the Indians 
with arms and ammunition to be used against themselves struck Cap- 
tain Heald with so much force, that he resolved, without consulting 
his officers, to destroy all not required for immediate use. 

On August 13th, the goods in the factory store were distributed 



760 BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



among the Indians, -nho had collected near the fort ; and in the even- 
ing the ammunition, and also the liquor belonging to the garrison, 
were carried, the former into the sally-port and thrown into the well, 
and the latter through the south gate, as silently as possible, to the 
river bank, Avhere the heads of the barrels were knocked in, and their 
contents discharged into the stream. The Indians, however, sus- 
pecting the game, approached as near as possible and witnessed the 
whole scene. The spare muskets were broken up and thrown into 
the well, together with bags of shot, flints, and gun-screws, and other 
things ; all, however, of but little value. 

On the 14th, the despondency of the garrison was for a while dis- 
pelled by the arrival of Captain Wells and fifteen friendly Miamies. 
Having heard at Fort Wayne of the order to evacuate Chicago, and 
knowing the hostile intentions of the Pottawatomies, he hastened 
thither in order to save, if possible, the little garrison from its doom. 
Having, on his arrival, learned that the ammunition had been destroy- 
ed, and the provisions distributed among the Indians, he saw there 
was no alternative. Preparations were therefore made for marching 
on the morrow. 

In the afternoon a second council was held with the Indians, at 
which they expressed their resentment at the destruction of the am- 
munition and liquor in the severest terms. Notwithstanding the pre- 
cautions which had been observed, the knocking in of the heads of the 
whisky-barrels had been heard by the Indians, and the river next 
morning tasted, as some of them expressed it, "like strong grog." 
Murmurs and threats were everywhere heard ; and nothing, apparent- 
ly, was wanting but an opportunity for some public manifestation of 
their resentment. 

The morning of the 15th dawned as usual ; the sun rose with un- 
common splendour, and Lake Michigan " w^as a sheet of burnished 
gold." Early in the day a message was received in the American 
camp from To-pee-na-bee, a chief of the St. Joseph's band, informing 
them that mischief was brewing among the Pottawatomies, who had 
promised them protection. 

About nine o'clock, the troops left the fort with martial music, and 
in military array. Captain Wells, at the head of the Miamies, led 
the van, his face blackened after the manner of the Indians. The 
garrison, with loaded arm.s, followed, and the wagons with the bag- 
gage, the women and children, the sick and the lame, closed the rear. 
The Pottawatomies, about five hundred in number, who had promised 
to escort them in safety to Fort Wayne, leaving a little space, after- 
ward followed. The party in advance took the beach road. They 



BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



761 




Battle bet-ween mounted troops and the Indians. 

had no sooner arrived at the sand-hills which separate the prairie 
from the heach, about a mile and a half from the fort, when the Pot- 
tawatomies, instead of continuing in rear of the Americans, left the 
beach and took to the prairie ; the sand-hills of course intervened, 
and presented a barrier between the Pottawatomies and the American 
and Miami line of march. This divergence had scarcely been effected, 
when Captain Wells, who, with the Miamies, was considerably in ad- 
vance, rode back and exclaimed, "They are about to attack us; form 



762 BORDER WARS OP ILLINOIS. 



instantly and charge upon them." The word had scarcely been utter- 
ed, before a volley of musketry from behind the sand-hills was poured 
in upon them. The troops were brought immediately into a line and 
charged up the bank. One man, a veteran of seventy, fell as they 
ascended. The battle at once became general. The Miamies fled in 
the outset ; their chief rode up to the Pottawatomies, charged them 
with duplicity, and, brandishing his tomahawk, said, " he would be 
the first to head a party of Americans, and return to punish them for 
their treachery." lie then turned his horse and galloped off in pur- 
suit of his companions, who were then scouring across the prairie, and 
nothing was seen or heard of them more. 

The American troops behaved gallantly; though few in number, 
they sold their lives as dearly as possible. They felt, however, as if 
their time had come, and sought to forget all that was dear on earth. 

While the battle was raging, the surgeon, Doctor Voorhes, who was 
badly wounded, and whose horse had been shot from under him, ap- 
proaching Mrs. Helm, the wife of Lieutenant Helm, (who was in the 
action, participating in all its vicissitudes,) observed, " Do you think," 
said he, " they will take our lives ? I am badly wounded, but I think 
not mortally. Perhaps we can purchase safety by offering a large 
reward. Do you think," continued he, "there is any chance?" 

"Doctor Voorhes," replied Mrs. Helm, "let us not waste the few 
moments Avhich yet remain in idle or ill-founded hopes. Our fate is 
inevitable: we must soon appear at the bar of God ; let us make such 
preparations as are yet in our power." 

" Oh," said he, " I cannot die ; I am unfit to die ! If I had a short 
time to prepare! Death ! oh, how awful !" 

At this moment, Ensign Ronan was fighting at a little distance 
with a tall and portly Indian ; the former, mortally wounded, was 
nearly down, and struggling desperately upon one knee. Mrs. Helm, 
pointing her finger, and directing the attention of Doctor Voorhes 
thither, observed, "Look," said she, "at that young man; he dies 
like a soldier." 

"Yes," said Doctor Voorhes, "but he has no terrors of the future; 
he is an unbeliever." 

A young savage immediately raised his tomahawk to strike Mrs. 
Helm. She sprang instantly aside, and the blow intended for her 
head fell upon her shoulder ; she thereupon seized him around his 
neck, and while exerting all her efforts to get possession of his scalp- 
ing-knife, was seized by another Indian and dragged forcibly from 
his grasp. The latter bore her, struggling and resisting, toward the 
lake. Notwithstanding, however, the rapidity with which she was 



BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 763 



hurried along, she recognised, as she passed, the remains of the un- 
fortunate surgeon stretched lifeless on the prairie. She was plunged 
immediately into the water and held there, notwithstanding her resist- 
ance, with a forcible hand. She shortly, however, perceived that the 
intention of her captor was not to drown her, as he held her in a 
position to keep her head above the water. Thus reassured, she 
looked at him attentively, and, in spite of his disguise, recognised the 
"white man's friend." It was Black Partridge. 

When the firing had ceased, her preserver bore her from the water 
and conducted her up the sand-bank. It was a beautiful day in 
August. The heat, however, of the sun was oppressive ; and walking 
through the sand, exposed to its burning rays, in her drenched condi- 
tion — weary, and exhausted by efforts beyond her strength — anxious 
beyond measure to learn the fate of her friends, and alarmed for her 
own, her situation was one of agony. 

The troops having fought with desperation till two-thirds of their 
number were slain, the remainder, twenty-seven in all, borne down by 
an overwhelming force, and exhausted by efforts hitherto unequalled, 
at length surrendered. They stipulated, however, for their own safety 
and for the safety of their remaining women and children. The 
wounded prisoners, however, in the hurry of the moment, were unfor- 
tunately omitted, or rather ^ot particularly mentioned, and were 
therefore regarded by the Indians as having been excluded. 

One of the soldiers' wives, having frequently been told that prison- 
ers taken by the Indians were subjected to tortures worse than death, 
had from the first expressed a resolution never to be taken ; and when 
a party of savages approached to make her their prisoner, she fought 
with desperation ; and, though assured of kind treatment and protec- 
tion, refused to surrender, and was literally cut in pieces and her 
mangled remains left on the field. 

After the surrender, one of the baggage-wagons, containing twelve 
children, was assailed by a single savage, and the whole number were 
massacred. All, without distinction of age or sex, fell at once beneath 
his murderous tomahawk. 

Captain Wells, who had as yet escaped unharmed, saw from a dis- 
tance the whole of this murderous scene ; and being apprized of the 
stipulation, and seeing it thus violated, exclaimed aloud, so as to 
be heard by the Pottawatomies around him, whose prisoner he then 
was, " If this be your game, I will kill too!" and, turning his horse's 
head, instantly started for the Pottawatomie camp, where the squaws 
and Indian children had been left ere the battle began. He had no 
sooner started, than several Indians followed in his rear and discharged 



764 BORDER WARS OF ILLINOIS. 



their rifles at him as he galloped across the prairie. He laid himself 
flat on the neck of his horse, and was apparently out of their reach, 
when the ball of one of his pursuers took effect, killing his horse and 
wounding him severely. He was again a prisoner ; as the savages 
came up, Winnemeg and Wa-ban-see, two of their number, and both 
his friends, used all their endeavours in order to save him ; they had 
disengaged him already from his horse, and were supporting him 
along, when Pee-so-tum, a Pottawatomie Indian, drawing his scalping- 
knife, stabbed him in the back, and thus inflicted a mortal wound. 
After struggling for a moment he fell, and breathed his last in the 
arms of his friends, a victim for those he had sought to save — a sacri- 
fice to his own rash, presumptuous, and perhaps indiscreet intentions. 

The battle having ended, and the prisoners being secured, the latter 
were conducted to the Pottawatomie camp near the fort. Here the 
wife of Wau-bee-nee-mah, an Illinois chief, perceiving the exhausted 
condition of Mrs. Helm, took a kettle, and dipping up some water 
from the stream which flowed sluggishly by them, threw into it some 
maple sugar, and, stirring it up with her hand, gave her to drink. 
"It was," says Mrs. Helm, "the most delicious draught I had ever 
taken, and her kindness of manner, amid so much atrocity, touched 
my heart." Her attention, however, was soon directed to other ob- 
jects. The fort, after the troops had marched out, became a scene 
of plunder. The cattle were shot down as they ran at large, and lay 
dead, or were dying around her. It called up afresh a remark of 
Ensign Ronan's, made before : " Such," said he, " is to be our fate — 
to be shot down like brutes." 

The wounded prisoners, we have already remarked, were not in- 
cluded in the stipulation made on the battle-field, as the Indians 
understood it. On reaching, therefore, the Pottawatomy camp, a 
scene followed which beggars description. A wounded soldier, lying 
on the ground, was violently assaulted by an old squaw, infuriated by 
the loss of friends or excited by the murderous scenes around her — 
who, seizing a pitchfork, attacked with demoniac ferocity, and delibe- 
rately murdered in cold blood the wretched victim, now helpless and 
exposed to the burning rays of the sun, his wounds already aggravated 
by its heat, and he writhing in torture. During the succeeding night, 
five other wounded prisoners wei'e tomahawked. 

Those unwoundcd remained in the wigwams of their captors. The 
work of plunder being now completed, the fort next day Avas set on 
fire. A fair and equal distribution of all the finery belonging to the 
garrison had apparently been made, and shawls and ribands and 
feathers were scattered about the camp in great profusion. 








BOEDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 

ICHIGAN -was visited by Europeans 
much earlier than any other portion of 
the territory northwest of the Ohio. Its 
peninsular character and favourable po- 
sition for commanding the commerce of 
lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior, 
made its possession an object of import- 
ance to those rival nations, which were 
seeking to gain power in America. 
French traders visited the territory as 
early as 1640, and in 1670 the adventurers of the same enterprising 
nations founded Detroit, which continued to be their chief trading- 
post until the fall of Canada. The French seem to have possessed 
the art of winning the affections of the Indians, for here, as in other 
places in the western territory, they were never compelled to use 
force to maintain their ascendency. The principal tribes with whom 
they traded were the Ottawas, Chippewas, and Pottawatomies. 

When Canada and its dependencies had been surrendered to the 
English, Major Robert Rogers with a strong body of troops was sent 
to take possession of the French posts Detroit and Michilimackinac. 
On the route from Montreal to the western part of Lake Erie, the 
major found the natives disposed to be friendly. But when he ap- 
proached Detroit, he received a message from Pontiac, the chief of 
the Ottawas, commanding the English to stop until he could " see 
them with his own eyes." The troops were drawn up in order for an 
emergency, and Pontiac soon arrived at their encampment. He is 

765 



766 BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



said to have possessed a stern and impressive appearance ; and subse- 
quent events displayed his great skill as a ■warrior and a statesmen. 
After the first salutation, Pontiac sternly demanded of Major 
Rogers, why he had ventured upon the territory of the Indians -with- 
out the permission of their head. Major Rogers replied that he 
had no designs against the Indians, and that his object was the re- 
moval of the French, who had prevented the blessings of friendship 
and commerce from existing between the Indians and the English. 
He then gave Pontiac several belts, which Avere well received. The 
chief gave Major Rogers a string of wampum, saying, " I shall stand 
in your path till to-morrow morning." By this he meant that the 
English must not proceed further without his permission, Pontiac 
then supplied the troops with provisions, for which Major Rogers was 
prudent enough to pay.* 

The next morning, Pontiac came to the English camp, smoked the 
pipe of peace with the English commander, and informed him that he 
should pass safely through his territories, and that his warriors should 
protect them from all hostile tribes. The chief meant what he said. For 
he accompanied Rogers to Detroit, sent messengers to all the different 
Indian towns, informing them that the English had his permission to 
pass through the country, and take possession of the French posts, and 
sent one hundred warriors to the aid of a corps of troops who were 
driving a number of cattle from Fort Pitt to Detroit. 

The great chief of the Ottawas remained the firm and active friend 
of Major Rogers while he continued in command of the English forces. 
But Rogers was succeeded in command at Detroit by Major Gladwyn; 
and from that time the intercourse between the English and Indians 
became less cordial. The causes of the intense hatred which Pontiac 
conceived soon after for the English were numerous and just. The 
French treated the Indians as brothers, and him as king. The Eng- 
lish domineered over them, disgraced some of the warriors by flogging 
them, and acted upon the whole like the secure and arbitrary masters 
of the country. French influence aided in widening the breach, and 
finally, in the course of 1762, Pontiac resolved to organize a confede- 
racy for driving the English from all their posts in the northwest, in 
uniting the powerful tribes in the neighbourhood of the great lakes, 
and in forming the plan for crushing the enemy at a single blow. 
This chief must be admitted to have displayed greater force of genius 
than any other Indian, with, perhaps, the single exception of Tecum- 
seh. Among the different tribes, reports were circulated of a design 

* Drake's Book of the Indians. 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 767 



formed by the English for the extirpation of the Indians, and, roused 
by these, the red men were for putting Pontiac's schemes in action. 

In the spring of 1763, the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Sacs, 
Foxes, Menominies, Miamis, Shawanees, and branches of other tribes 
were ready for a simultaneous attack on all the British forts and 
trading-posts in the country northwest of the Alleghany mountains. 
Without meeting with much resistance, they took possession of Green 
Bay, St. Joseph's, Ouaitenon, Miamis, Sandusky, Presque Isle, Le- 
Boeuf, and Venango. A small number of traders about these posts 
were killed, and others were captured. The capture of Michilimack- 
inac is thus narrated in Dillon's History of Indiana : — 

The fort at Michilimackinac, distant three hundred and twenty miles 
from Detroit, stood on the south side of the strait between the lakes 
Huron and Michigan. There was connected with the fort an area of 
two acres. This area was enclosed with cedar-wood pickets, extend- 
ing on one side so near to the edge of the water that a western wind 
sometimes drove the waves against the foot of the stockade. There 
were within the limits of the enclosure about thirty small houses, in- 
habited by French families. The only ordnance on the bastions of the 
fort were two small brass pieces. The garrison consisted of ninety men, 
besides two subalterns, and Major Etherington, the commandant. The 
task of capturing this fort had been allotted to the Sacs and the Chip- 
pewas, and the warriors of these tribes effected their object by means 
of a very ingenious stratagem. Nearly four hundred Indian warriors 
were encamped at Michilimackinac ; and on the 4th of June, which 
was the birth-day of George III., these Indians began to amuse them- 
selves by playing at a favourite game of ball, which they called "bag- 
gatiway." This game is played Mith a bat and ball, the bat being 
about four feet long, curved, and terminating in a sort of racket. 
Two posts are placed in the ground at the distance of a half mile 
or more from each other. The Indians arc then divided into two par- 
ties, and each party has its post. On the ground, midway between 
the two posts, is placed the ball ; and the players then endeavour to 
knock or throw it from the direction of their own post, and totcard the 
post of their adversaries. The Indians played for some time with great 
animation near the pickets of the fort, and part of the garrison went 
out to observe the progress of the game. In the ardour of the con- 
test, the ball was sometimes, apparently by accident, thrown over the 
stockade. At such moments it was followed by numbers of both par- 
ties, who ran into and out of the fort Avith freedom. This artifice 
was repeated several times ; when, finally, as the ball was thrown over 
the pickets, the Indians rushed into the enclosure and took possession 



768 



BORDER AVARS OF MICHIGAJN. 



of the fort. A furious attack was then made on the English soldiers, 
seventy of whom were killed and scalped. The remainder, being about 
twenty men, were saved as prisoners. 

The capture of Detroit by Pontiac was only prevented by one of 
those accidents which " balk or crown our reaching schemes." A 
concise and well-digested account of this affair and subsequent events 
is also given by Dillon, in his History of Indiana: — 

Early in the month of May, Pontiac appeared before Detroit at the 
head of three or four hundred warriors. These Indians, who were 
accompanied by their women and children, encamped near the fort, 
without exciting at first, any suspicion in the mind of Major Gladwyn, 
the commandant. The post was then garrisoned by one hundred and 
thirty men, including officers. Three rows of pickets, enclosing about 
an acre and a half, surrounded the fort, in the form of a square. There 
were blockhouses at the corners and over the gates. With a few 
exceptions, the houses of the French inhabitants were situated within 
the enclosure ; and an open space, which was called by the French 
Le chemin du Ronde, intervened between the houses and the pickets. 
The fortifications did not extend to the river Detroit, but a gate opened 
in the direction of the stream, in which, near the fort, the Beaver, an 
armed English schooner, was then moored. The ordnance of the fort 
consisted of two six-pounders, a few small brass pieces, and three mortars. 

Such was the condition of aff'airs about Detroit on the 8th of May, 
17G3, when Pontiac proposed to hold a council with Major Gladwyn, 
saying to that officer that " the Indians desired to take their new father, 
the king of England, by the hand." To this proposal Major Gladwyn 
gave his assent, and it was agreed between the parties that the council 
should be held in the fort on the next day. In making this apparently 
friendly overture, it was the object of Pontiac to gain admittance into 
the fort, at the head of a number of warriors who were armed with rifles 
which had been made so short that they could be concealed under the 
blankets of those who carried them. At a particular signal, which was 
to be given by the chief, these Indians were to massacre all the officers 
in the fort, and then open the gates to admit the other Indians, who 
were to rush in and complete the destruction of the garrison. Major 
Gladwyn obtained information of this scheme before an opportunity 
occurred to execute it. Carver states — and his account is substantially 
confirmed by tradition, as well as by other authorities — that an Indian 
woman betrayed the secret. She had been employed by the com- 
mandant to make him a pair of moccasons out of elk-skin, and having 
completed them, she brought them into the fort on the evening of the 
day when Pontiac made his appearance, and his application for a 



BORDER WARS OP MICHIGAN. 769 



council. The major was pleased with them, directed her to convert 
the residue of the skin into articles of the same description, and having 
made her a generous payment, dismissed her. She went to the outer 
door, but there stopped, and for some time loitered about, as if her 
errand was still unperformed. A servant asked her what she wanted, 
but she made no answer. The major himself observed her, and ordered 
her to be called in, when, after some hesitation, she replied to his in- 
quiries, that as he had always treated her kindly, she did not like to 
take away the elk-skin, which he valued so highly ; she could never 
bring it back. The commandant's curiosity was, of course, excited, 
until the woman at length disclosed every thing which had come to 
her knowledge. Her information was not received with implicit cre- 
dulity, but the major thought it prudent to employ the night in taking 
active measures for defence. His arms and ammunition were examined 
and arranged ; and the traders and their dependants, as well as the 
garrison, were directed to be ready for instant service. A guard kept 
watch on the ramparts during the night, it being apprehended that 
the Indians might anticipate the preparations now known to have 
been made for the next day. Nothing, however, was heard after dark, 
except the sound of singing and dancing in the Indian camp, which 
they always indulge in upon the eve of any great enterprise. In the 
morning, Pontiac and a party of his warriors repaired to the fort. 
They were admitted without hesitation, and were conducted to the 
council-house, or the place assigned for the meeting, where Major 
Gladwyn and his officers were prepared to receive them. They per- 
ceived at the gate, and as they passed through the streets, an unusual 
activity and movement among the troops. The garrison was under 
arms, the guai'ds were doubled, and the officers were armed with swords 
and pistols. Pontiac inquired of the British commander what was 
the cause of this unusual appearance. He was answered, that it was 
proper to keep the young men to their duty, lest they should become 
idle and ignorant. The business of the council then commenced, and 
Pontiac proceeded to address Major Gladwyn. His speech was bold 
and menacing, and his manner and gesticulations vehement, and they 
became still more so as he approached the critical moment. When he 
was upon the point of making the preconcerted signal, the drums at 
the door of the council-house suddenly rolled the charge, the guards 
levelled their pieces, and the British officers drew their swords from 
their scabbards. Pontiac was a brave man ; but this unexpected and 
decisive proof that his plot was discovered disconcerted him, and he 
failed to give his party the signal of attack. Major Gladwyn imme- 
diately approached the chief, and drawing aside his blanket, discovered 



49 



770 



BOHDEE, WARS OF MICHIGAN. 




Attack on tne house at Hog Island. 



the shortened rifle ; and tlien, after stating his knowledge of the plan, 
and reproaching him for his treachery, ordered him from the fort. 
The Indians immediately retired, and as soon as they had passed 
the gate they gave a yell, and fired upon the garrison. They then 
proceeded to the commons, ^vhere "was living an aged English woman, 
with her two sons. These they murdered, and afterward repaired to 
Hog Island, where a discharged sergeant resided with his family, who 
were all but one massacred. 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 771 



During three or four day^ immediately succeeding these events, the 
Indians ihade several attempts to carry the fort by storm. At one 
time, a cart, filled with combustible materials set on fire, was wheeled 
up against the pickets ; at another time the besiegers were about to 
set fire to the chapel, by shooting blazing arrows upon its roof; but 
the warriors of the wilderness gave up this intention, when they were 
told by a Jesuit missionary that such an act would bring down upon 
them the condemnation of the Great Spirit. The assailants made 
several attempts to cut aAvay the pickets, so as to make a breach. On 
one occasion, when such an attempt was made, Major Gladwyn ordered 
his men to assist the Indians in cutting aAvay some of the pickets. This 
was done ; and when an opening was made, the Indians began to rush 
into it ; but they were suddenly and destructively repulsed by the dis- 
charge of a brass four-pounder which had been brought to bear upon 
the breach. After this repulse, the assailants did not at any time 
make a close assault upon the fort : but they maintained a pretty 
close siege throughout the months of May, June, July, and August, 
during a part of which time the English garrison were compelled to 
subsist on half rations. About the 31st of May, Lieutenant Cuyler, 
who had been despatched from Niagara, arrived at Point Pelee with 
ninety-seven men, manning twenty small boats laden with provisions 
and stores for the garrison at Detroit. A few hours after the arrival 
of the English party at this place, they were surprised and defeated 
by a band of Pontiac's warriors, who took possession of all the boats, 
except one, in which an officer and thirty men escaped. Of the re- 
mainder of the party, some were killed and others captured. The 
prisoners were then compelled to navigate the boats, in each of which 
the Indians placed a guard ; and thus the vessels, keeping close to 
the Canadian shore, moved up the Detroit river, attended by a con- 
siderable number of warriors, who marched along the banks. When 
the foremost boat arrived at a point nearly opposite to Detroit, four 
prisoners who were manning the boat determined to effect their escape 
or to perish in the attempt. They suddenly changed the course of 
the boat, and began to force her across the stream and towards the 
fort. The Indian guards, who attempted to stop them, after a short 
struggle leaped overboard, dragging with them one of the prisoners. 
The three who remained in the boat were fired on by the Indians, and 
one of the fugitives was wounded ; but an armed vessel lying before 
Detroit opened a fire upon the Indians, and thus covered the retreat of 
the English boatmen until they reached the vessel. The Indians then 
landed the boats, and took the rest of the prisoners to Hog Island, 
where nearly all of them were put to death. 



772 



BORDER WARS OP MICHIGAN. 




Boat sku'raisTi lietween Pontiac's warriors an' 



1 the 



In the early part of June, a strong detachment of Indians left the 
siege, and proceeded to Fighting Island, for the purpose of intercept- 
ing a vessel laden ^vith arms and provisions for the relief of the gar- 
rison at Detroit. The Indians, in their canoes, annoyed the English 
vessel very much, until the latter reached the point of the island, 
■Nvhere, on account of the wind failing, she "was compelled to anchor. 
To deceive the Indians in regard to the strength of his crew, the cap- 
tain had concealed his men in the hold. Soon after dark the Indians 
embarked in their canoes and proceeded to board the vessel. The men 
were silently ordered up and took their stations at the guns. The 
Indians were suffered to approach close to the vessel, when the cap- 
tain, by a stroke of a hammer on the mast, gave the signal for action. 
An immediate discharge took place, and the Indians precipitately fled, 
with many killed and wounded. The next morning the vessel dropped 
down to the mouth of the river, where she remained six days waiting 
for a wind. On the thirteenth she succeeded in ascending the river, 
and reaching the fort in safety. 



BOEDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 773 



Soon after these events occurred, Pontiac made some unsuccessful 
attempts to destroy the English vessels moored before Detroit. Large 
rafts constructed of combustible materials ■were towed to a certain 
position in the river, and there set on fire, with the expectation that 
the current Avould carry these burning masses into contact with the 
vessels. 

A fleet of gunboats, strongly armed, and having on board three 
hundred English regular troops under the commaixd of Captain Dal- 
yell, arrived at Detroit late in the month of July. Soon after the 
arrival of this reinforcement, a battle was fought between the English 
and the Indians, at a place v/hich, from the time of the engagement 
to the present day, has been called "Bloody Bridge." The English 
commander, in his official returns, gave the following minute account 
of this alfair. " On the evening of the 30th July, Captain Dalyell, 
aid-de-camp to General Amherst, being arrived here with the detach- 
ment sent under his command, and being fully persuaded that Pontiac, 
the Indian chief, with his tribes, would soon abandon his design and 
retire, insisted with the commandant that they might easily be sur- 
prised in their camp, totally routed and driven out of the settlement ; 
and it was thereupon determined that Captain Dalyell should march 
out with two hundred and forty-seven men. Accordingly we marched 
about half an hour after two in the morning, two deep, along the 
great road by the river side, two boats up the river alongshore, with 
a patteraro in each, with orders to keep up with the line of march, 
cover our retreat, and take off" our killed and wounded ; Lieutenant 
Bean, of the Queen's Independents, being ordered, with a rear guard, 
to convey the dead and wounded to the boats. About a mile and a 
half from the fort, we had orders to form into platoons, and, if attacked 
in front, to fire by street-firings. We then advanced, and, in about 
a mile farther, our advanced guard, commanded by Lieutenant Brown, 
of the 55th regiment, had been fired upon so close to the enemy's 
breastworks and cover, that the fire, being very heavy, not only killed 
and wounded some of his party, but reached the main body, which put 
the whole into a little confusion ; but they soon recovered their order, 
and gave the enemy or rather their works, it being very dark, a dis- 
charge or tAvo from the front, commanded by Captain Gray. At the 
same time, the rear, commanded by Captain Grant, were fired upon 
from a house, and some fences about twenty yards on his left ; on 
which he ordered his own and Captain Hopkins's companies to face to 
the left and give a full fire that way. After which, it appearing that 
the enemy gave way everywhere. Captain Dalyell sent orders to Cap- 
tain Grant to take possession of the abovesaid houses and fences ; 



774 BOEDER WARS OF MICHIGAN 



which he immediately did ; and found in one of the said houses two 
men, who told him the enemy had been there long, and were well 
apprized of our design. Captain Grant then asked them the numbers: 
they said above three hundred ; and that they intended, as soon as 
they had attacked us in the front, to get between us and the fort ; 
which Captain Grant told Captain Dalyell, who came to him when 
the firing was over. And in about an hour after, he came to him 
again, and told Captain Grant he was to retire, and ordered him to 
march in the front, and post himself in an orchard. He then marched, 
and about half a mile farther on his retreat, he heard some shots fired 
on his flank ; but got possession of the orchard, which was well fenced ; 
and just as he got there, he heard a warm firing in the rear, having 
at the same time a firing on his own post, from the fences and corn- 
fields behind it. Lieutenant McDougal, who acted as adjutant to the 
detachment, came up to him, (Captain Grant,) and told him, that Cap- 
tain Dalyell was killed, and Captain Gray very much wounded, in 
making a push on the enemy, and forcing them out of a strong breast- 
work of cordwood, and an intrenchment which they had taken pos- 
session of ; and that the command then devolved upon him. Lieutenant 
Bean immediately came up, and told him, that Captain Rogers had 
desired him to tell Captain Grant, that he had taken possession of a 
house, and that he had better retire with what numbers he had, as he 
(Captain Rogers) could not get off without the boats to cover him, he 
being hard pushed by the enemy from the enclosures behind him, some 
of which scoured the road through which he must retire. Captain Grant 
then sent Ensign Pauli, with twenty men, back to attack a part of 
the enemy which annoyed his own post a little, and galled those that 
were joining him, from the place where Captain Dalyell was killed, 
and Captain Gray, Lieutenants Brown and Luke, were wounded ; which 
Ensign Pauli did, and killed some of the enemy in their flight. Captain 
Grant, at the same time, detached all the men he could get, and took 
possession of the enclosures, barns, fences, &c. leading from his own 
post to the fort, which posts he reinforced with the ofiicers and men, 
as they came up. Thinking the retreat then secured, he sent back to 
Captain Rogers, desiring he would come off ; that the retreat was quite 
secured, and the different parties ordered to cover one another succes- 
sively, until the whole had joined; but Captain Rogers not finding it 
right to risk the loss of more men, he chose to wait for the armed 
boats, one of which appeared soon, commanded by Lieutenant Brehm, 
whom Captain Grant had directed to go and cover Captain Rogers's 
retreat, who was in the next house. Lieutenant Brehm accordingly 
went and fired several shots at the enemy. Lieutenant Abbott, with 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



775 




Pontiac. 



the other boat, wanting ammunition, went down with Captain Gray. 
Lieutenant Brown and some wounded men returned also, which Captain 
Grant supposes the enemy seeing did not wait her arrival, but retired 
on Lieutenant Brehm's firing, and gave Captain Rogers, with the rear, 
an opportunity to come oif; so that the whole from the different posts 
joined without any confusion, and marched to the foft in good order, 
covered by the armed boats on the water side, and by our own parties 
on the country side, in view of the enemy, who had all joined, and 
were much stronger than at the beginning of the affair, as was after- 
ward told us by some prisoners that made their escape ; many having 
joined them from the other side of the river and other places. The 
whole arrived at the fort about eight o'clock, commanded by Captain 
Grant, whose able and skilful retreat is highly commended." 



776 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 




In this battle, the loss of the English detachment was Captain Dal^yell 
and nineteen men killed, and Captain Gray and thirty-six men wounded. 
Captain Dalyell's head was cut off and stuck upon a pole on Bloody 
Bridge. Soon after the battle, a portion of the Indians gave up their 
prisoners and returned home, being anxious for peace. But Pontiac 
and his Ottawas kept the English in close quarters at Detroit until 
17G4. This determined chief never made friends with the English. 
When the most of the northwestern tribes sued for peace, he retired 
to Illinois, where he was assassinated in 1707. He was a noble man. 
Misused by the English, deceived by the French, and betrayed by his 
own people, he was still true to himself, and by his independent genius 
effected much. Many anecdotes are related of him, all of which prove 
that if we wish for instances of magnanimity, valour, and eloquence, 
we need not go beyond the history of our own country. 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



777 




Colonel Cass. 



Detroit continued in the possession of the British during the Revo- 
lutionary war. The Americans made no attempt to capture any of 
the Michigan posts. But at the end of the war, the territory was ceded 
to the United States by Great Britain, and William Hull was soon 
afterward appointed governor. When the war of 1812 broke out, 
Governor Hull, at the head of about two thousand five hundred men, 
of whom only eight hundred were regular troops, marched for Detroit, 
from Urbana, Ohio. On the 13th of June, this army reached the 
Maumee, having in two weeks marched one hundred and twenty miles, 
cutting their road through a dense forest, and Avading knee-deep in 
mire about forty miles. They now entered- an open and pleasant 
country, and reached Detroit on the 5th of July. While at Maumee, 
Governor Hull put his baggage on board of a vessel for Detroit. This 
was taken by the enemy, and thus they became acquainted with the 
strength and plans of the Americans. 

On the 12th of July, Hull crossed into Canada, some distance above 
Detroit, and entered the village of Sandwich. Within a few days. 
Colonel Duncan McArthur with a detachment took possession of the 



778 BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



country along the Thames, and Colonel Cass routed a British detach- 
ment about four miles from Maiden. But in Michigan the American 
arms were destined to droop in disaster. 

Fort Michilimackinac, from its commanding position, was con- 
sidered as the Gibraltar of the Lakes. Its garrison, however, num- 
bered but fifty-six men. On the 16th of July, about three hundred 
British troops embarked at St. Joseph's, and presented themselves 
before the x-Vmerican post. The garrison surrendered upon honourable 
terms. The fall of this post filled Hull with consternation. A council 
of war assembled on the 1st of August, and it was determined to attack 
Maiden. But after sending Major Vanhorn, with a detachment of 
Ohio volunteers, to escort a convoy of provisions from the Raisin, the 
terror-stricken Hull suddenly gave the order to recross the Detroit 
river, much to the mortification of the gallant men under his com- 
mand. Major Vanhorn was attacked by the enemy on the second 
day of his march, and compelled to retreat, losing nineteen men killed 
and nine wounded. The follovring account of Miller's victory at 
Managua, and the surrender of Hull, we take from Kauifman's His- 
tory of Western Pennsylvania : — 

Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller was now sent at the head of five 
hundred men to escort the provisions at the river Raisin to Detroit, 
and to chastise the enemy that had attacked Major Vanhorn. He 
commenced his march on the 9th of August, and having arrived in 
the vicinity of Brownstown, proceeded with great caution. The enemy 
had thrown up a breastwork about four miles from the town, at a place 
called Magagua, behind which the Indians under Tccumseh were con- 
cealed, w^aiting the approach of Colonel Miller. The whole British 
and Indian force was commanded by Major Muir. The advanced 
guard of the Americans under Cnptain Snelling, approaching the 
ambuscade of the Indians, was suddenly attacked with great fury. 
Captain Snelling kept his ground until the main body approached, 
when the Avhole Indian force poured a destructive fire into his ranks. 
Colonel IMiller returned the fire, and then charged the enemy with 
great impetuosity. The British troops gave way and fled, but the 
Indians under Tccumseh, retreating a short distance into the woods, 
kept their ground with desperate obstinacy. The British regulars, 
being rallied, returned to the contest, and the fight continued for some 
time with great fury on both sides. Five hundred savages under 
Tccumseh, aided by a body of British troops, fought with great despe- 
ration. Colonel Miller, disregarding the musketry of the British and 
the yells of the savages, repelled their attacks on every side, and by 
repeated charges, compelled the enemy to retreat. They retired sloAvly 



BORDEK WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



79 




Battle of Ma^a^ua. 



to Brownstown, literally retreating at the point of the bayonet. Here 
they hastily embarked in boats and crossed the river to Maiden. The 
British loss was fifteen killed and more than thirty wounded, and the 
Indians left nearly one hundred dead on the field of battle. The 
Americans had fifteen killed and about sixty wounded. 

After this brilliant victory at Magagua, Colonel Miller was unable 
to proceed to the river Raisin, and Colonel Cass and Colonel McArthur 
were despatched with about four hundred men to escort the provisions 
to Detroit. In the mean time, the British had taken a position oppo- 
site Detroit, and erected fortifications. On the loth of August, a flag 
of truce was sent from General Brock, the British commandant, to 
Governor Hull, demanding a surrender of Detroit. To this summons 
an answer was returned that the place vrould be defended to the last 
extremity. The British immediately opened their batteries, and con- 
tinued to throw shells durino; the night. The fire was returned, but 
with little effect on either side. In the morning, it was discovered 
that the British were landing on the American shore, at a place called 
Spring Wells, under the cover of their ships. The enemy, having 
landed about ten o'clock, advanced towards the fort in close column 
and twelve deep. The American force was judiciously posted to pre- 
vent their advance. The volunteers occupied the town or were posted 
behind pickets, from which they could annoy the enemy's flanks ; the 
regular troops defended the fort, and two twenty-four pounders were 
posted on an eminence, charged with grape, and could sweep the whole 



'80 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



line of the enemy as it advanced. All was now silent expectation. 
The daring foe still moved slowly forward, apparently regardless or 
unconscious of their danger — for their destruction must have been 
certain — had they not been impressed with contempt for a commander 
whose treachery or pusillanimity they knew. The hearts of the Ameri- 
cans beat high at the near prospect of victory and triumph. But who 
can describe the chagrin and mortification of these troops, when, at 
the very moment it was thought the British were deliberately advanc- 
ing to certain destruction, the artillery were ordered not to fire, and 
the whole force was ordered to retire into the fort ? Here the troops 
were ordei-ed to stack their arms, and, to the astonishment of every 
one, a white flag, in token of submission, was suspended from the walls. 
A British officer rode up to ascertain the cause. A capitulation was 
agreed upon, without even stipulating the terms. Thus, without firing 
a gun, did this pusillanimous commander surrender an army of about 
seventeen hundred brave men, well provided with provisions and the 
requisite munitions of war, to an infirm force of about seven hundred 
British soldiers and Canadian militia, and six hundred Indians. The 
British took immediate possession of the fort, containing forty barrels 
of powder, four hundred rounds of twenty-four pound shot, one hun- 
dred thousand ball cartridges, two thousand five hundred stand of 
arms, twenty-five pieces of iron and eight brass cannon, a great num- 
ber of which had been captured by the Americans during the war of 
the Revolution. Tiie detachments under Colonels Cass and McArthur, 
and the whole territory, were surrendered to the British. 

The surrender of Hull aroused the people of the West to a sense of 
the necessity of washing the stain from the American flag. Four 
thousand volunteers were in the field in a very short time, and General 
William Henry Harrison, the victor of Tippecanoe, was appointed 
commander-in-cliicf, with greater powers tluin had before been con- 
ferred upon any American, with the exception of Washington and 
Greene. He immediately planned a winter campaign for the recovery 
of Detroit. General Winchester with a considerable force was ordered 
to proceed to the rapids of the Miami, and collect stores for the con- 
centration of the troops at that point. Other dispositions were made; 
but a great disaster, the consequence of a disobedience of Harrison's 
orders, disconcerted the whole plan of operations. This disaster is 
known to history as the massacre at the Raisin. A clear and well- 
supported narrative of the afl'air we find in Kauffraan's History of 
Western Pennsylvania : — • 

On the 10th of January, General Winchester descended the Mauraee, 
and established his quarters on the north bank, just above ^Vayne's 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



781 




Gtneral Winciiestei' 



battle-ground, on an eminence. His encampment -u-as well chosen. 
He then erected a large store-house, and filled it with corn from the 
fields around him. On the 13th of the same month, he received infor- 
mation that the Indians threatened to burn Frenchtown, on the river 
Raisin, twenty-six miles from Detroit. The inhabitants claimed the 
protection of the United States, and on the 14th, sent an urgent 
request for relief. On the 16th, two messengers ai-rived, and pite- 
ously begged immediate assistance, as the only means of saving their 
town from conflagration and themselves frojn massacre. A council of 
war advised General Winchester to march to their assistance, and 
accordingly, on the 17th of January, Colonel Lewis and Colonel Allen, 
of the Kentucky volunteers, were sent with six hundred and ten men 
on the expedition. They encamped the first night twenty miles from 
the camp of General Winchester, when an express from the river 
Raisin arrived, with the information that the British and Indinns had 
already taken possession of Frenchtown, and an additional force was 
soon expected. Colonel Lewis sent a messenger back to the Rapids 
with the news, and continued his march. As the troops drew near 
the town, the enemy became apprized of their approach, and prepared 
for their reception. Colonel Allen commanded the right wing, Major 
Graves the left, and Major Madison the centre. On reaching the 



782 BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



river, wtich was bridged with ice, they displayed, and moved forward 
under a fire from a howitzer, and a discharge of musketry. Majors 
Graves and Madison, with their battalions, were ordered to dislodge 
the enemy from the houses and picketing, which they in a moment 
effected, under a shower of bullets, and drove the British and Indians 
to the woods. Colonel Allen made a simultaneous movement upon 
their left, and, after several spirited charges, the enemy gave way and 
fled. Availing themselves of the fences and fallen timber in the 
neighbouring wood, they attempted to make a stand, but were again 
attacked, and, after an obstinate conflict, gave way. Being pursued, 
they charged furiously in turn, but were not able to break the Ameri- 
can line. A severe conflict now ensued ; but the enemy were finally 
beaten, pursued with a continual charge for several miles, and entirely 
dispersed. The American loss was twelve killed and fifty-five wounded. 
The enemy left fifteen dead in the open field ; but as the conflict was 
mostly in the woods, about dark, the appearance of the ground the 
next day showed that a large number had been carried ofi" by the 
Indians. 

The volunteers, having thus gallantly eff"ected their object, encamped 
on the spot, where they remained until the twentieth, Avhen they were 
joined by General Wilkinson with two hundred and fifty men, increas- 
ing the force to about eight hundred. Six hundred men were posted 
within the pickets, and the remainder encamped in the open field. 

On the morning of the 22d of January, a combined British and 
Indian force of about fifteen hundred strong, under Colonel Proctor 
and the Indian chiefs Ilound-IIead and Split-Log, having taken a 
position within three hundred yards of our army, opened a heavy fire 
upon it suddenly, at daylight, with six pieces of artillery, accompanied 
with musketry. The body of men belonging to the encampment, and 
composing the right wing, were soon overpowered by numbers, and 
endeavoured to retreat across the river. Two companies of fifty men 
each, seeing the situation of their comrades, sallied out of the breast- 
work to their relief, but were overpowered with them, and were either 
cut ofl"or surrendered themselves to the British, under the promise of 
protection. JSIore than one hundred of these men had gained the 
woods, where they were instantly surrounded by Indians, scalped, and 
tomahawked. Horrible destruction overwhelmed the fugitives on all 
sides. Captain Simpson was shot down and tomahawked. Colonel 
Allen, although severely wounded, attempted several times to rally his 
men. He had escaped two miles, where, exhausted with loss of blood, 
he seated himself upon a log. An Indian warrior approached and 
ordered him to surrender. Another Indian approached, with a raised 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 783 



tomahawk to strike liim, whom the colonel instantly killed. A third 
Indian then shot him dead. Captain Mead was killed in the com- 
mencement of the action. 

The snow was deep, and prevented the escape of nearly all. Gene- 
ral Winchester and Colonel Lewis were taken prisoners at a bridge, 
three-fourths of a mile from the town, and, after being stripped of their 
coats, were conducted by their captors to Colonel Proctor. 

At the same time, amidst all this desolation and death, Major Madi- 
son and Major Graves maintained their position behind the pickets 
with more than Spartan valour. Colonel Proctor, finding it useless 
any longer to assail this little band of heroes, withdrew his forces, and 
posted himself in the woods, beyond the reach of their rifles. But 
having secured General Winchester as prisoner, he determined to get 
possession of Major Madison and Major Graves without further con- 
test. General Winchester instantly agreed to surrender these brave 
men. Major Overton, his aid, accompanied by Proctor himself, and 
several British officers, carried a flag of truce and an order from 
General Winchester, directed to Major Madison and Major Graves, 
to surrender themselves and their men to the enemy. The flag passed 
three times, the Americans being unwilling to surrender with arms in 
their hands, until they received a positive engagement from the British 
colonel that they should not be murdered, and that they should have 
the privilege of burying their dead. Thirty-five officers and four 
hundred and fifty non-commissioned officers and men still remained 
after fighting six hours against discharges of artillery and musketry, 
amid the yells of thousands of savages. After some altercation, the 
British commander agreed to the following terms of capitulation : 
" That private property should be respected ; that sleds should be pro- 
vided on the next morning to convey the wounded to Amhersburg, 
near Maiden ; that in the mean time they should be protected by a 
guard ; and, finally, that the side-arms of the officers should be restored 
to them at Maiden." On such terms, they relied upon British honour 
and surrendered. 

Scarcely had the Americans surrendered, under the stipulation of 
protection from Colonel Proctor, than these brave men discovered, too 
late, that they were reserved to be butchered in cold blood. Of the 
right wing, but a small number had escaped ; the work of scalping and 
stripping the dead, and murdering those who could no longer resist, 
was suftered to go on without restraint. The infernal work was now 
to begin with the brave men under Major Madison and Major Graves. 
The infamous Proctor and the British officers turned a deaf ear to the 
remonstrances of these unhappy men. Their swords were taken from 



r84 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 




Massacre at Fronchtown. 



the sides of the officers, and many of them -were stripped almost naked 
and robbed. The brave dead were stripped and scalped, and their 
bodies shockingly mutilated, and the tomahawk put an end at once to 
the suiferings of many of the wounded who could not rise. With few 
exceptions, the prisoners who now remained, instead of being guarded 
by the British soldiers, as stipulated, were delivered to the charge of 
the Indians, to be marched in the rear of the army to Maiden, and 
the greater part of these ill-fated men were murdered on the way, 
through mere wantonness. All who became weak for want of nourish- 
ment, or from excessive fatigue or their wounds, in this most inclement 
season of the year, were at once struck down with the tomahawk. 
Small W'as the remnant of this little army that ever reached the British 
garrison. The greater part of the prisoners were carried off by the 
savages to be roasted at the stake. About sixty of the wounded, 
many of them officers of distinction, had been suffered to take shelter 
in the houses of Jean B. Jerome and Gabriel Godfrey, and two of 
their own surgeons were permitted by Proctor to attend them. They 
also obtained a promise that a guard should be placed to protect them, 
and that they should be carried to Maiden the next morning on sleds. 
But no guard was left, and on the next day, instead of sleds to convey 
them to a place of safety, a party of Indians returned to the field of 
battle ; raising their frantic yells, they began to plunder the houses 
of the inhabitants. They next broke into the houses where the 
wounded were, and plundered, tomahawked, and scalped them without 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAN. 



T85 




Colonel RictiarcL M. Johnson. 



mercy. They then set the houses on fire. Several who were able to 
crawl endeavoured to escape at the windows, but they were toma- 
hawked, pushed back into the houses, and consumed in the flames. 
Others were killed in the street and thrown back into the burning 
houses. For these horrible outrages, unprecedented in civilized war- 
fare, Colonel Proctor was raised to the rank of brigadier-general in 
the British army. 

In this action, the Americans lost in killed, wounded, and missing, 
two hundred and ninety men. The British captured five hundred and 
forty-seven prisoners ; the Indians forty-five, and thirty-three escaped 
to the Rapids. The British and Indian loss was between three and 
four hundred. 

Detroit was not recovered by the Americans until the 29th of Sep- 
tember, 1813, before which time it had been abandoned by Proctor's 
troops. Perry's victory upon Lake Erie, and the annihilation of the 
British and Indian army at the Thames by General Harrison, secured 
the Americans in the possession of Michigan. Tecumseh having fallen 

50 



786 



BORDER WARS OF MICHIGAjST. 



in that battle, it is said by the hand of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, 
the Indian tribes were glad to conclude a treaty of peace, by which 
the United States gained possession of a vast quantity of land, and 
secured their northwestern frontier from massacre and devastation. 

Michigan had received a territorial government complete in 1805. 
In 1836, a state constitution was adopted by the inhabitants, and 
Michigan took her place in the glorious Union. The population had 
increased rapidly after the formation of the territorial government, 
and, in 1840, it amounted to over two hundred and two thousand. 
As the commerce of the great lakes increases, Michigan will become 
one of the most wealthy and prosperous States in the confederacy. 





General Jackson. 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 




HE territory now included in Tennessee was 
originally comprised in the charter of North 
Carolina, given by Charles the Second, in 1664. 
No European settlements were formed in it, 
however, until 1757, Vv'hen Fort Loudon was 
built and garrisoned ; and the Indians, to 
induce artisans to settle among them, made 
donations of land to those who came. Fort 
Loudon was established on the north side of 
the Little Tennessee river, about one mile above the mouth of the 
Tellico, in the centre of the Cherokee country. A war with that In- 
dian nation having occurred, the garrison was besieged, and compelled 
to surrender for the v/ant of provisions. By the terms of the ca- 
pitulation they were to retire beyond the Blue Ridge ; but after pro- 
ceeding about twenty miles, the Indians fell upon and massacred the 
whole number excepting nine persons, amounting to betAveen two and 
three hundred. This happened in the year 1760. In 1761, Colonel 

787 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



Grant inarched against the Indians and subdued them, and compelled 
them to sue for peace. The only settlements which had been made in 
the vicinity of Fort Loudon were broken up by the war ; but tranquillity 
having been restored, fifteen or twenty persons formed themselves into 
a company, and came to a place now called Carter's valley, in East 
Tennessee. In 17G8 an exploring party came into the country from 
Virginia. The first permanent settlements were made in 1768 and 
1769. The settlers were chiefly from North Carolina and Virginia. 
The settlements continued to increase until 1774 and 1775, when an 
extensive purchase of land was made from the Indians by Henderson 
and company, but not without warm opposition from the chief, who 
declaimed against the encroachments of the whites, without effect. In 
1776, war with the Indians occurred, but, after some fighting, an 
arrangement was made by the States of North Carolina and Virginia, 
by which the boundaries of the territory, now State, of Tennessee, 
were definitively settled. In 1779, Capt. James Robertson and others 
from East Tennessee crossed Cumberland Mountain, and explored 
the country in the neighbourhood of Nashville, and planted corn that 
season on the ground where Nashville now stands. They all returned 
for their families excepting three, who remained to keep the buffaloes, 
which abounded in this region, out of the corn. 

In 1780, the backwoodsmen, chiefly Tennesseeans, gained the famous 
victory of King's Mountain. The scene of this battle is Avithin the 
present limits of North Carolina. But an account of it is due to the 
State which furnished the gallant warriors, and which was then a part 
of North Carolina. The following we take from Collins's Memoir of 
Governor Shelby, in his History of Kentucky : — 

Seven hundred men, led by Cols. Shelby, Clarke, and Williams, on 
the 19th of August, 1780, defeated a British and tory detachment at 
Musgrave's mill, and took many prisoners. With these the back- 
vfoodsmen retreated beyond the mountains. Major Ferguson was so 
solicitous to recapture the prisoners, and to check these daring adven- 
tures of the mountaineers, that he made a strenuous effort, with his 
main body, to intercept them ; but failing of his object, he took post at 
a place called Gilbert-town, from whence he sent the most threatening 
messages, by paroled prisoners, to the officers west of the mountains, 
proclaiming devastation to their country, if they did not cease their 
opposition to the British government. This was the most disastrous 
and critical period of the Revolutionary war to the South. No one 
could see whence a force could be raised to check the enemy in their 
progress to subjugate this portion of the continent. 

Cornwallis, with the main army, was posted at Charlotte-town, in 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



789 




Col. Shelby- 



North Carolina, and Ferguson, with three thousand men at Gilbert- 
town ; while many of the best friends of the American government, 
despairing of the freedom and independence of America, took protection 
under the British standard. At this gloomy moment. Colonel Shelby 
proposed to Colonels Sevier and Campbell to raise a force from their 
several counties, march hastily through the mountains, and attack and 
surprise Ferguson in the night. Accordingly, they collected with their 
followers, about one thousand strong, on Doe run, in the spurs of the 
Alleghany, on the 25th of September, 1780, and the next day com- 
menced their march, when it was discovered that three of Col. Sevier's 
men had deserted to the enemy. This disconcerted their first design, 
and induced them to turn to the left, gain his front, and act as events 
might suggest. They travelled through mountains almost inaccessible 
to horsemen. As soon as they entered the level country, they met 
with Colonel Cleveland with three hundred men, and with Colonels 



790 BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



Williams and Lacy, and other refugee officers, Avho had heard of Cleve- 
land's advance, by ■which three hundred more were added to the force 
of the mountaineers. They now considered themselves to be sufficiently 
strong to encounter Ferguson ; but being rather a confused mass, 
without any head, it was proposed by Colonel Shelby, in a council of 
officers, and agreed to, that Colonel Campbell, of the Virginia regi- 
ment, — an officer of enterprise, patriotism, and good sense, — should 
be appointed to the command. And having determined to pursue 
Ferguson with all practicable despatch, two nights before the action 
they selected the best horses and rifles, and at the dawn of day com- 
menced their march with nine hundred and ten expert marksmen. As 
Ferguson was their object, they would not be diverted from the main 
point by any collection of tories in the vicinity of their route. They 
pursued him for the last thirty-six houi'S without alighting from their 
horses to refresh but once, at the Cowpens, for an hour, although the 
day of the action was so extremely wet, that the men could only keep 
their guns dry by wrapping their bags, blankets, and hunting-shirts 
around the locks, which exposed their bodies to a heavy and incessant 
rain during the pursuit. 

By the order of march and of battle. Colonel Campbell's regiment 
formed the right, and Colonel Shelby's regiment the left column, in 
the centre : the right wing was composed of Sevier's regiment, and 
Major Winston's and McDowell's battalions, commanded by Sevier 
himself; the left wing Avas composed of Colonel Cleveland's regiment, 
the followers of Colonels Williams, Lacy, Hawthorn, and Hill, headed 
by Colonel Cleveland in person. In this order the mountaineers pur- 
sued, until they found Ferguson, secm-ely encamped on King's Moun- 
tain, which was about half a mile long, and from which, he declared 
the evening before, that "God Almighty could not drive him." On 
approaching the mountain, the two centre columns deployed to the 
right and left, formed a front, and attacked the enemy, while the right 
and left wino;s were marchino- to surround him. In a few minutes the 
action became general and severe — continuing furiously for three- 
fourths of an hour ; when the enemy, being driven from the east to 
the west end of the mountain, surrendered at discretion. Ferguson 
was killed, with three hundred and seventy-five of his officers and men, 
and seven hundred and thirty captured. The Americans had sixty killed 
and wounded ; of the former. Colonel Williams. This glorious achieve- 
ment occurred at the most gloomy period of the Revolution, and was the 
first link in the great chain of events to the South which established 
the independence of the United States. History has, heretofore, though 
improperly, ascribed this merit to the battle of the Cowpens, in Jan- 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



791 




General Pickens. 



uary, 1781 ; but it belongs, justly, to the victory on King's Mountain, 
which turned the tide of war to the South, as the victory of Trenton, 
under Washington, and of Bennington, under Stark, did to the North. 
It was achieved by raw, undisciplined riflemen, without any authority 
from the government under which they lived, — without pay, rations, 
ammunition, or even the expectance of reward, other than that which 
results from the noble ambition of advancing the liberty and welfare 
of their beloved country. It completely dispirited the tories, and so 
alarmed Cornwallis, who then lay only thirty miles north of King's 
Mountain with the main British army, that on receiving information 
of Ferguson's total defeat and overthrow by the riflemen from the west, 
under Cols. Campbell^ Shelby, Cleveland and Sevier, and that they 
were bearing down upon him, he ordered an immediate retreat — 
marched all night, in the utmost confusion — and retrograded as far 
back as Winnsborough, sixty or eighty miles, whence he did not 
attempt to advance until reinforced, three months after, by General 
Leslie, with two thousand men from the Chesapeake. 

In 1781, the Cherokees and Chickasaws, stimulated by British in- 
fluence, committed depredations upon the people of Tennessee and 



792 BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



North Carolina, and a detachment of troops, under General Pickens, 
had to be sent against them. By the energetic conduct of Pickens, 
the Indians were severely chastised, and compelled to sue for peace. 
A treaty was concluded in the latter part of the year. In the course 
of the same year, the legislature of North Carolina granted the rights 
of pre-emption to the settlers of the Cumberland. Each head of a 
family, and every single man who had made a settlement prior to 
January, was by this act allowed six hundred and forty acres of 
land. In 1783, the legislature granted 25,000 acres of land to General 
Nathaniel Greene for his revolutionary services. 

In 1784, North Carolina ceded the territory of Tennessee to the 
United States, if they would accept of it within two years of the pas- 
sage of the act. The inhabitants in the mean time organized a terri- 
torial government for themselves. The assembly of North Carolina 
repealed the act which ceded Tennessee to the United States, and 
great confusion and perplexity ensued. In December, 1784, the in- 
habitants formed a constitution for the new State, named Frankland, 
and announced to North Carolina their independence. Some of the 
people adhered to North Carolina, and a confusion of authority was the 
consequence. But in 1790, deeds of conveyance were executed, and 
the territory came into the possession of the United States. William 
Blount was appointed by Washington to be the first governor. In 
1791, the population of the territory, including slaves, amounted to 
86,043 persons. 

The Creeks and Cherokees now made a determined effort to prevent 
the white settlements from spreading. Bloodshed and desolation 
visited the more exposed places, and the people of Tennessee felt all 
the miseries endured by most of the western settlers. But after severe 
and desperate fighting, the savages Avere subdued. In June, 1794, they 
sued for peace, and a treaty was concluded. A State constitution was 
formed by the people in February, 1796, and Tennessee was admitted 
into the Union in the folloAving June. From that time until the com- 
mencement of the second war with Great Britain, the people of Ten- 
nessee enjoyed peace and prosperity. 

In 1812, the famous Tecumseh arrived among the Creeks, and by 
his artful management roused a spirit of war and revenge among them. 
The first fury of the Creeks was spent upon those of their own nation 
who were anxious for peace with the v/hites. They were forced to fly 
for safety to the forts and settlements. 

Infatuated by the prophets with the persuasion that the Great Spirit 
was on their side, and that they should be found invfecible, they made 
their first assault upon Fort Mimms, situated in the Tensaw settle- 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



793 




Massacre at Fort liimms. 



ment in Mississippi; and here they terribly signalized their cruelty 
and vengeance. It was crowded with women and children, who had 
fled to it from terror of the savages, as a place of protection, and was 
garrisoned by one hundred and fifty men under the command of Major 
Beasly. The savages obtained their ammunition and supplies from 
the Spanish at Pensacola ; and in 1813, to the number of six or seven 
hundred, under command of Weatherford, commenced their attack upon 
the fort. They were fatally successful, and carried it by storm. 
About three hundred persons, more than half of them women and chil- 
dren, were massacred. Never was savage character more fully de- 
veloped. The mother and the child Avere slain with the same stroke 
of the tomahawk. But seventeen of the multitude that had crowded 
into the supposed protection of the fort escaped to relate the catas- 
trophe. The abominable cruelties of the savages previous to this 
were merged at once in the excitement created by this monstrous and 
most unprovoked atrocity. As soon as. the news reached the adjoin- 
ing States, a just spirit of resentment was aroused. A campaign had 
already been planned by the Governor of Tennessee, in conformity to 
instructions from the secretary of war, against them. The feelings 
universally excited on this occasion naturally accelerated these opera- 
tions. General Jackson was selected by public sentiment as com- 
mander in this campaign. 

General Jackson, though suffering from a severe wound which he 
had received in a private rencontre, accepted the command. Colonel 



794 BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



Coffee, in whom, also, the Tennesseeans reposed great confidence, 
commanded under him ; and, in case the general government did not 
see fit to adopt the expedition and defray its expense, the State voted 
three hundred thousand dollars for its support. In preparing for this 
campaign, and in marching to the scene of action, General Jackson 
encountered every difficulty and delay that could arise from the 
opinions of opposing factions, from false alarm and intelligence, from 
the refractory spirit of men generally unused to control, and much more 
so to the stern control of a camp ; and more than all from hunger and 
an uncertain supply of provisions. He seemed precisely the man to 
meet and obviate all these difficulties. Unitina; in an uncommon degree 
perseverance with promptitude, no opposition stood in his way but 
that wdiich in the nature of things was insurmountable. He soon 
marched wdth such as these circumstances allowed him to collect.* 

Near the Creek settlements, Colonel Dyer was sent to attack Litta- 
fouchee toAvn. He destroyed this place, and returned with a consi- 
derable number of prisoners. Soon after, General Coffee, with nine 
hundred men, was detached to attack a body of the enemy who had 
collected on the Tullushatchee, thirteen miles from the camp of the 
main army. Coffee found a fordable place in the Coosa, and crossing 
it divided his troops into two bodies, and surrounded the town. The 
Indians were prepared for the onset, and a desperate contest ensued. 
The troops drove the savages to their houses, where the battle con- 
tinued, no quarter being asked by them. The loss of the Indians was 
one hundred and eighty-six killed, and about ninety — nearly all women 
and children — made prisoners. Of the Tennesseeans, five were killed 
and forty-one Avoundcd, 

After the battle of Tallushatchee, General Jackson waited for the 
junction of the troops from East Tennessee. But he Avas doomed to 
disappointment. No reinforcement arrived ; and information being 
received that a large body of the hostile Creeks had appeared before 
Talledega, a town of friendly Indians, humanity compelled him, with 
one thousand eight hundred men, to march to their relief. 

On the 8th of December, 1813, at one in the morning, the army 
began crossing the river, behind AA'hich the Indians w^ere posted. It 
Avas here six hundred yards Avide, and of course to cross it was a work 
of difficulty as well as time. The next day, at four in the morning, 
the army Avas again in motion. The infantry proceeded in three 
columns ; the cavalry in the same order. The advance, consisting of 
a company of artillerists with muskets, two companies of riflemen, and 



* Flint. 



BORDER AVARS OP TENNESSEE. 795 



one of spies, marched about four hundred yards in front, under the 
command of Colonel Carroll, with orders, after commencing the action, 
to fall back on the centre, and draw the enemy after them, Lieute- 
nant-Colonel Dyer was placed in the centre, with two hundred and 
fifty cavalry as a corps of reserve. The remainder of the mounted 
troops were directed to advance on the right and left, after encircling 
the enemy, by uniting the fronts of their columns, and keeping their 
rear rested on the infantry, to face and press toward the centre, so 
as to leave the savages no possibility of escape. The remainder of 
the army advanced by heads of companies, General Hall's brigade 
occupying the right, and General Roberts's the left. 

At eight in the morning, the advance, within eighty yards of the 
enemy, received a severe fire from them, concealed as they were be- 
hind a thick shrubbery. They returned it, and, according to their 
instructions, fell back upon the centre. The enemy, with their cus- 
tomary yells and whoops, rushed upon General Roberts's brigade, a 
few companies of which recoiled in alarm, and fled at the first fire. 
To fill the chasm created by this desertion, the commanding general 
directed a volunteer regiment of Colonel Bradley, which appeared to 
linger, to advance and occupy the vacant space. This order was not 
executed by Bradley. Owing to this failure, it became necessary to 
dismount the reserve, which met the rapid approach of the enemy with 
great firmness. This example inspirited the retreating militia, who 
rallied, and assisted in checking the advance of the savages. On the 
left they were met and repulsed by the mounted riflemen. But, owing 
to the dilatory movements of the volunteer regiment, and the too 
extensive circuit made by Colonel Allcorn, who commanded the 
cavalry of that wing, the intended circle was not so closed but that a 
number of the enemy escaped in the interval. 

The savages fought with determined spirit for some time, and then 
retreated for the adjacent hills. Many of them fell in this retreat, 
and the slaughter did not cease until they were sheltered among the 
hills, at the distance of three miles. General Jackson in his report 
bestowed the highest commendation on the ofiicers and soldiers gene- 
rally. He mentioned Colonel Carroll and Lieutenant-Colonel Dyer in 
terms of high praise for the spirited gallantry with which they met 
and repulsed the enemy ; stating that both oflicers and privates had 
answered his highest expectations, and merited the gratitude of their 
country. 

The enemy brought one thousand and eighty to this battle, of whom 
two hundred and ninety-three were killed on the field. It is supposed 
that many were killed in the flight. Few escaped unwounded. Their 



796 BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 



whole loss, as since stated by themselves, was about six hundred. 
The American force lost fifteen killed, and eighty wounded, of whom 
many afterward died. 

A scene ensued this victory that would be difficult to describe. The 
friendly Indians had been besieged closely for several days. They 
were a handful surrounded by infuriated enemies. Torture and the 
most horrible death were in reserve for them, as the certain conse- 
quence of surrender. In their siege, they endured every privation, 
particularly the dreadful one of water. They were relieved on the 
very day when an assault was to have been made upon them, which 
would almost inevitably have resulted in the destruction of every one 
of them. Their deliverance was one of the few occasions that melts 
even the savage heart to tenderness and joy. The manifestations 
were affecting. Famished as they had been, they sold their provisions 
for the supply of the famished troops of General Jackson.* 

The commander encountered many obstacles in the prosecution of 
this campaign which would have disconcerted men of ordinary deter- 
mination. General Cocke, holding precisely the same rank as Gene- 
ral Jackson, refused to join him with his troops, alleging that the 
latter would reap all the laurels — a paltry reason for inaction when 
the security of life and property is at issue. Without aid from that 
quarter, Jackson's army also suffered from famine, which produced an 
outbreak of the spirit of mutiny. The general was forced to retreat, 
as if the Creeks had been successful. Several mutinies then occurred, 
which exercised the firmness and energy of Jackson. 

In consequence of the extreme want of provisions, General Jackson 
was forced to allow the militia to return. One hundred and ten men 
volunteered to defend the camp until the army returned to the field. 
The militia had not marched more than twelve miles when they met 
one hundred and fifty beeves. But when their hunger was appeased 
they refused to obey the general's orders to return to camp. 

One company was already moving off in a direction toward home. 
As soon as the general was informed of this, he pursued them Avith a 
part of his staff, and a few soldiers with General Coffee, wdio had 
halted a quarter of a mile in advance. He ordered them immediately 
to form across the road, and to fire on the mutineers if they attempted 
to proceed. Snatching up their arms, these faithful adherents pre- 
sented a front which awed the deserters, and caused them to retreat 
precipitately on the main body. But the example of mutiny was 
contagious. He soon ascertained that a whole brigade was in the 

* Flint. 



BORDER WARS OP TENNESSEE. 797 



attitude of marching back by force. In this crisis, having taken his 
ground, he determined to triumph or perish. Seizing a musket, and 
resting it on the neck of Tiis horse, for he was disabled by a -wound 
from the use of his left arm, he threw himself in front of the mutinous 
column, and declared that he would shoot the first man who should 
venture to advance. In this situation he was found by Major Reid 
and General Coffee, who, judging from the length of his absence that 
some disturbance had arisen, hastened to his side, and waited the 
result of his perilous determination in the anxious suspense of expec- 
tation. For many minutes the column preserved a sullen yet hesi- 
tating attitude, at once fearing to proceed, and reluctant to retreat. 
In the mean time, those who remained faithful to their duty, amount- 
ing to about two companies, were collected and formed in rear of the 
general, and in advance of the troops, with positive orders to imitate his 
example in firing, if they attempted to advance. The timidity resulting 
from the consciousness of a bad cause prevailed. They returned quietly 
to their posts. This firmness, at this critical moment, undoubtedly saved 
the campaign, and perhaps determined the issue of the war. There 
are but few men who could have adopted such a course with safety.* 

Not long after the battle of Talledega, General White attacked and 
destroyed the Hillabee towns, killing sixty, and making two hundred 
and fifty-six prisoners. It is said that the people of these towns had 
sued for peace, and were waiting for an answer when White attacked 
them. This is supposed to have made the Creeks believe the whites had 
determined to exterminate them, and resolve to fight desperately. 

On the 12th of December, General Cocke reached Jackson with 
fifteen hundred men. But it was found that their term of service 
would expire within a few weeks. Mutiny succeeded mutiny, and the 
Governor of Tennessee advised the relinquishment of the expedition. 
But General Jackson determined to exert his utmost energy in main- 
taining it. The more obstructions opposed his path, the stronger 
became his resolution to surmount them. The general had no legal 
right to compel men to remain in camp when their term of service bad 
expired ; but he considered the security of the frontier superior to 
mere questions of legal power between men. 

After the dispersion and return of most of the troops, and the 
arrival and mutiny of others, General .lackson found himself at the 
head of only nine hundred men, with which he determined to make a 
diversion in favour of the Georgia forces then in the Indian country. 
At Talledega, he was joined by two hundred friendly Indians, who, 

* Flint. 



798 BORDER WARS OP TENNESSEE. 



however, were badly armed and dispirited. Intelligence had been 
received at Fort Armstrong that the warriors from all the towns on 
the Tallapoosa were about to attack that place. The garrison was 
too small for successful defence, and its preservation depended on 
Jackson's making a rapid march and a vigorous stroke at the enemy. 
The general quickly decided. The enemy were understood to be near 
the mouth of the creek Emuckfaw. 

On the 21st of January, 1814, the army encamped on the heights 
which overlooked Emuckfaw. About midnight spies reported that they 
had discovered a large encampment of Indians at three miles distance, 
and that the enemy seemed apprized of the arrival of the Americans. 
At the dawn of the next morning, the alarm guns of the sentinels, 
succeeded by shrieks and savage yells, announced the attack of the 
enemy. Their first assault was on the left flank, commanded by 
Colonel Iliggius. It Avas met, and opposed with great firmness. 
General Coffee and Colonels Carroll and Sitler instantly repaired to 
the point of attack, and by example and exhortation encouraged the 
men to their duty. The action raged for half an hour. The brunt 
of it being against the left wing, it had become considerably weakened. 
The first part of the action had taken place during the dimness of twi- 
lif'-ht. The clear light of the morning showing the position of the 
enemy, and Captain Ferril's company having reinforced the left wing. 
General Coffee directed a charge, and a rout immediately ensued. 
The enemy were pursued two miles. 

The general immediately detached General Coffee, with the friendly 
Indians and four hundred men, to storm the enemy's encampment, 
unless it should be found too strongly fortified, in which case he pro- 
posed to bring up the artillery. Coffee, having reconnoitred the posi- 
tion, and found it too strongly fortified to be assailed with his force, 
returned to camp. He had not returned more than half an hour, when 
a fire was opened on the pickets on the right, accompanied with the 
usual savage yells. General Coffee volunteered his services to move 
upon the left flank of the assailants. His detachment was taken from 
different corps. He placed himself at their head, and moved rapidly 
upon the foe. While he was thus occupied, the rear of his force had 
an opportunity to slip away unperceived, until the whole number did 
not exceed fifty men. He found the enemy occupying a ridge of open 
pine timber, covered with low underbrush, which afforded them every 
opportunity for concealment. To drive them from, their lurking places, 
General Coffee ordered his men to dismount, and charge them. In 
carrying this order into execution, the general was wounded through 
the body, and his aid, Major Donelson, killed. 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 799 



This was followed by a violent onset on the line of the left. Gene- 
ral Jackson repaired in person to the point of attack. The battle was 
maintained by the assailants by quick and irregular firing from behind 
logs, trees, shrubbery, and whatever could afford concealment. Behind 
these, they prostrated themselves, after firing, to reload, and rise, and 
fire again. After sustaining this fire for some time, a brilliant and 
steady charge under Colonel Carroll broke their array, threw them 
into confusion, and caused them to fly. Their loss, though it was 
certainly considerable, was not exactly known. 

On the right, General Coffee had not been able to drive them from 
their fastnesses to his wish ; and with a view to draw them from their 
retreat, he affected to retire toward the place where he had first dis- 
mounted. This stratagem had the desired effect. They forsook their 
hiding places, and advanced rapidly upon him. The fight was renewed 
again on equal terms. A severe contest ensued, which lasted almost 
an hour, Avith nearly the same loss on each side. At this crisis, when 
several of the detachment had been killed, many wounded, and the 
whole were exhausted with fatigue, a timely reinforcement from Gene- 
ral Jackson made its appearance on the enemy's left flank, and put an 
end to the contest. General Coffee, although severely wounded, in- 
stantly ordered a charge, from v/hich the enemy fled in consternation, 
and were pursued with great slaughter. At this place, few, if any, 
escaped. It was a day of almost continual hard fighting. 

The night, that drew on after such a day, amid the gloom of the 
forest, would naturally be dispiriting to troops, most of whom had 
never before seen an enemy, or formed a distinct idea of the horrors 
of a battle. The spirits of the men were observed visibly to flag as 
the darkness increased. During the night, at even the least noise, 
the sentinels would fire their alarm-guns, and retreat upon the main 
body. General Jackson, having accomplished the main objects of his 
expedition, a diversion in favour of General Floyd, and the relief of 
Fort Armstrong, began to think of returning to his former station at 
the Ten Islands. The impossibility of subsistence for men and horses 
where they were rendered this measure indispensable. The appear- 
ance of a retreat, too, would probably draAv the savages from their 
strongholds, where they could not be attacked with his present force 
with any prospect of success. Every arrangement for the comfort and 
conveyance of his wounded being made, he began his retreat at ten 
the next morning. He marched without interruption until nearly 
night, and encamped on the south side of Enotichopco creek. 

The next day, various circumstances instructed the general that he 
was pursued. The delay of an attack led him to fear that he was 



800 BORDER WARS OE TENNESSEE. 



marching into an ambuscade. The necessary crossing of a deep 
ravine between two hills, sheltered with thick shrubbery and brown 
sedge, affording a most favourable concealment for savage attack, 
exposed him to an ambuscade. A few pioneers were despatched to 
find another crossing place. At this place, the front guards and part 
of the columns had passed, and the artillery was crossing. The com- 
pany of Captain Russell, who marched in the rear, was suddenly 
attacked by greatly superior numbers. The General had made all pos- 
sible arrangements for the emergency of an attack in this place, and 
calculated on a certain victory. Great was his astonishment, when 
he beheld the right and left columns of the rear-guard, after a feeble 
resistance, giving way, carrying confusion and dismay with them, and 
obstructing the passage over which the principal strength of the army 
was to be recrossed. This timid deportment was wellnigh being fol- 
lowed with the most fatal consequences, which were only prevented 
by the determined bravery of a few men. Nearly the whole of the 
centre column had followed the example of the other two. Not more 
than twenty men remained to oppose the torrent of assault. The 
artillery company, commanded by Lieutenant Armstrong, and com- 
posed of young men of the first families, who had volunteered their 
services at the commencement of the campaign, formed with their 
muskets before their piece of ordnance, and hastily dragged it from 
the creek to an eminence, whence they could discharge it on the enemy 
to advantage. This piece they defended with the most desperate 
bravery against an enemy five times their number, and checked the 
advance of a foe, already animated from beholding the consternation 
which his first shock had produced. The brave Armstrong fell beside 
his piece, exclaiming as he fell, " Some of you must perish ; but do not 
abandon the gun." By his side fell, mortally wounded, his associate 
and friend. Bird Evans, and the gallant Captain Hamilton. In the 
mean time, General Jackson and his staff, by the greatest exertions, 
were enabled to restore something like order. The enemy, perceiving 
a strong force advancing upon them, and being warmly assailed on 
their left flank by Captain Gordon, at the head of his spies, in their 
turn were stricken with alarm, and fled, throwing away whatever 
retarded their flight. They were pursued two miles; many were 
destroyed, and the remainder wholly dispersed.* 

The American loss in this day's contest was twenty killed, and 
seventy-five wounded, some of whom afterward died. The loss of the 
enemy was never accurately known. The prisoners represented it to 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 801 



be over two hundred killed, and many "wounded. The army returned 
to Fort Strother, the relief of Fort Armstrong and the diversion in 
favour of Floyd and his Georgians having been accomplished. 

The ranks of a triumphant army are easily filled. Most of the 
troops who had been engaged in the expedition returned home, but 
volunteers now flocked to the field, eager to reap the laurels to which 
the energy and perseverance of the victorious Jackson had opened 
the way. Among the new volunteers insubordination and difficulties 
in regard to supplies occurred, but in a less degree than formerly. 
The execution of a mutineer had the effect of securing obedience to 
command. 

On the 14th of March, 1814, General Jackson had made such ar- 
rangements and obtained such supplies as enabled him to commence 
his march for the enemy. At the mouth of Cedar creek, he estab- 
lished Fort Williams. On the 24th, leaving a sufficient force for the 
protection of the fort, under Brigadier-General Johnson, he set out for 
the Tallapoosa by the way of Emuckfaw. His whole effective force 
was something less than three thousand men. At ten in the morning 
of the 27th, after a march of fifty-two miles, he reached the village of 
Tohopeka. The enemy had collected here in considerable numbers 
to give him battle. The warriors from Oakfusky, Hillabee, Eufalee, 
and New Youcka, amounting to nearly twelve hundred, were at this 
place waiting his approach. They had selected an admirable place 
for defence. Situated in a bend of the river, which almost surrounded 
it, it was accessible only by a narrow neck of land. This they had 
used great exertions to render impregnable, by placing large timbers 
and trunks of trees horizontally on each other, leaving but a single 
place for entrance. From a double row of port-holes, they were ena- 
bled to fire in perfect security behind it. Captain Coffee, with mounted 
infantry and friendly Indians, had been despatched early in the morn- 
ing to encircle the bend, and manoeuvre in such a way as to divert the 
savages from the real point of attack. He was particularly directed 
to prevent their escape to the opposite shore in their canoes, with which, 
it was represented, the whole shore was lined. The general posted 
the rest of his army in front of the breastwork. He began to batter 
their breastworks with his cannon. Muskets and rifles were used, as 
the Indians occasionally showed themselves. The signals which were 
to announce that General Coffee had gained his destination were given. 
The soldiers hailed it with acclamations, and advanced with the intre- 
pidity of veterans. The 39th regiment, led on by their skilful com- 
mander. Colonel Williams, and the brave but ill-fated Major Montgo- 
mery, and the militia, amidst a sheet of fire that poured upon them, 

51 



802 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 




Destruction of tlie Creeks. 



rushed forward to the rampart. Here an obstinate and destructive 
conflict ensued. In firing through the port-holes on either side, many 
of the enemy's balls were welded between the muskets and bayonets 
of our soldiers. At this moment Major Montgomery, leaping on the 
rampart, called to his men to follow him. Scarcely had he spoken, 
when he Avas shot through the head, and fell. Our troops had now 
scaled the ramparts, and the savages fled before them, concealing 
themselves under the brush and timber, which abounded in the 
peninsula, whence they still continued a galling fire. Here they were 
charged, and dislodged. Their next alternative was their canoes ; 
but they perceived that a part of the army lined the opposite shore, 
and precluded escape on that quarter. They that still survived the 
conflict leaped down the banks, and took shelter behind the trees 
which had been felled from their margin. A flag, with an interpreter, 
was here sent them, to propose a surrender. They fired upon the 
party, and wounded one of them. Ascertaining their desperation, 
orders were given to dislodge them. The brush and trees about them 
were set on fire by lighted torches, sent down among them, and the 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 803 



blaze drove them from their hiding places, and brought them to view. 
The slaughter continued until night concealed the combatants from 
each other. A few of the misguided savages, who had avoided the 
havoc of the day, made their escape under the covert of the darkness. 
The friendly Indians contributed not a little to the completeness of 
this victory. Several of the Cherokees and Russell's spies, in the 
heat of the action, swam across the river, and fired the Indian town 
in the rear of the foe. Thus they found themselves assailed on every 
side, and vulnerable on a quarter from which they had not expected 
an attack.* 

This was the death-blow to the power of the Creeks. Their prophets 
had assured them they would be invincible upon that ground, and they 
could not expect safety anywhere else. Five hundred and fifty-seven 
bodies were found on the field, many were drowned in trying to cross 
the river ; so that there is but little doubt that the entire loss of the 
Indians was about six hundred and fifty warriors, and three hundred 
women and children made prisoners. After such a loss, they never 
could make a stand against their invaders. General Jackson's loss 
was fifty-five killed, and one hundred and forty-six wounded. Among 
the killed were several valuable oflicers. The general sank his dead 
in the river to save their scalps from the enemy, who had frequently 
used these stolen trophies to encourage their warriors. He then 
returned to Fort William. 

In April, General Jackson issued an address to his troops, con- 
gratulating them upon their success, and soon afterward commenced 
a march to efiect a junction with the North Carolina and Georgia 
troops, near the Hickory Ground. This junction was accomplished, 
and the gallant Tennesseeans, who were almost famished, were supplied 
with provisions. The remaining chiefs of the Creeks now came in and 
sued for peace. The most of the hostile band which had escaped the 
carnage of the war had fled southward to the Spaniards. General 
Jackson commanded all of the Creeks who came in with professions 
of friendship to retire northward of Fort William, and would accept 
no other evidence of their desire for peace. Weatherford, the most 
renowned warrior and statesman of the Creeks, continued away, wan- 
dering alone and mourning for the loss of his people. Jackson ordered 
the Creeks who seemed friendly to bring him bound to the camp. 
Soon after, the general was surprised by a personal visit from that 
chief, who had come voluntarily, and without being known, and had 
been admitted to the general's quarters. He entered with a calm 



804 



BORDER WARS OP TENNESSEE. 




Weatherford. 



front and said "that he had come to ask peace for himself and his 
people. The general expressed his astonishment that he, whose 
conduct at Fort Mimms had been so well known, and who must be 



BORDER WARS OF TENNESSEE. 805 



conscious that he deserved to die, should venture to appear in his 
presence. "I had directed," he continued, "that you should be 
brought to me confined. Had you appeared in this way, I should 
have known how to have treated you." Weatherford replied, " I am 
in your power. Do with me as you please. I am a soldier. I have 
done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them, and 
fought them bravely. If I had an army, I would yet fight, and con- 
tend to the last. But I have none. My people are all gone. I can 
now do no more than weep over the misfortunes of my nation." 

This bold demeanour softened the heart of Jackson, who ever sym- 
pathized with courage and patriotism. He told the chief the course to 
take if he wished for peace, and that if it did not suit him, he was free 
to go and fight it out ; but warned him of his certain death if captured 
in battle. Weatherford replied in a speech which is highly honoura- 
ble to his talents, his feelings for the misfortunes of his people, and 
his dignified spirit. He asked for peace only because he was unable 
to rally an army to meet the foe, and because it promised to relieve 
the miseries of the remnant of his people. He concluded by accepting 
the alternative off'ered by General Jackson. 

While the arrangements were making for securing the Indian coun- 
try by a line of posts from Tennessee to the Alabama, the friendly 
Creeks were pursuing and destroying their fugitive countrymen. All 
who acknowledged that they had participated in the massacre at Fort 
Mimms were considered at once as unfit for mercy. The necessary 
arrangements for preserving peace having been accomplished. Gen. 
Jackson delivered a parting address to his troops, and then dismissed 
them to their homes, now secure from the prowling savage and the 
murderous tomahawk. It was a cheering reflection to them, that, 
having seen, inflicted, and suff"ered so much misery, they were return- 
ing home satisfied with the feeling of duty done, and crowned with 
laurels. Their gallant commander, to whose determination and acti- 
vity the success of the war was mainly owing, returned home, but to 
prepare for his crowning triumph at New Orleans. 

Since the war of 1812, in which the people of Tennessee acted so 
glorious a part, the increase of the population and wealth of the State 
has been as rapid as in most of the western States. The fertility 
of the soil is remarkable both in Eastern and Western Tennessee, and 
every attraction is ofiered to immigrants. 




Kew Orleans. 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 




RECENT and eloquent -writer* has shown 
that the history of Louisiana possesses 
thrilling materials for the novelist, the poet, 
and the philosopher. Its position near the 
junction of the greatest of rivers with the 
broad Gulf of Mexico, its commercial facili- 
ties, and the almost tropical fertility of the 
soil, early attracted the attention of Euro- 
pean adventurei'S, and especially of the 
more enterprising French and Spaniards. 
The first Europeans who visited Louisiana are supposed to have 
been Do Soto and his chivalric followers, who reached the Mississippi 
in 1539. From that time until 1663, no attempt was made to explore 
the country. In that year, Marquette and Joliette, two French mis- 
sionaries, visited the Mississippi and the adjacent territory. In 1682, 
Robert Cavalier de la Salle, after exploring IlUnois, descended the 
Mississippi to its mouth, explored the country west of the river, and 
gave it the name of Louisiana, in honour of Louis le Grand. 

In 1699, M. Iberville, a distinguished French naval commander, 



806 



* Gayarre. 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA". 807 



visited the mouth of the Mississippi, leaving his fleet anchored near 
the Chandeleur islands. Proceeding up the river, M. Iberville reached 
the village of Bayagoulas, where he found a letter from the Chevalier 
Tonti to La Salle. The chevalier had come down the river to meet 
La Salle, but, being disappointed, had returned to Canada. The 
French, under Iberville, extended their explorations up to the mouth 
of the Red River. On their return, they separated when they arrived 
at Bayou Manchac. Bienville, with one party, was ordered to go 
down the river to the French fleet, to give information of what they 
had seen and heard. Iberville, with the other portion, went through 
Bayou Manchac to the lakes now known as Ponchartrain and Maure- 
pas. These names were given them in honour of the famous states- 
men of the reigns of Louis le Grand and Louis XY. From Lake 
Ponchartrain, Iberville arrived at a sheet of water now known as Lake 
Borgne. The French gave it this name, which signifies something 
defective, because it did not precisely answer the definition of a lake. 
To a beautiful bay upon that lake, Iberville gave the name of St. 
Louis, in honour of the best of the French monarchs, Louis IX. 

Iberville now returned to his fleet, and, after holding a consulta- 
tion, determined to make a settlement at the Bay of Biloxi. A posi- 
tion on the east side, near the mouth of the bay, was skilfully chosen, 
a fort erected, twelve pieces of artillery mounted, a few huts built in 
the vicinity of the fort, the cultivation of the ground begun, and Sau- 
volle, the talented brother of Iberville, appointed to the command. 
Bienville, the youngest of the three brothers, was appointed his lieu- 
tenant. Iberville then sailed for France. 

As soon as the French fleet had departed, Bienville, with a small 
party, was sent to explore the country, and pay a visit to the Cola- 
pissas and other tribes. On this expedition much information was 
gained, and the friendship of many tribes secured. On the 7th of 
December of the same year, Iberville returned to Louisiana with the 
news that Sauvolle had been appointed by the king governor of Lou- 
isiana, Bienville lieutenant-governor, and Boisbriant commander of 
the fort at Biloxi. Hearing of an attempt made by some English 
adventurers to eifect a settlement in Louisiana, Iberville, aiming to 
prevent such attempts in the future, erected a fort about fifty-four 
miles from the mouth of the river, so as to command it. Soon after- 
ward, the Chevalier Tonti and his followers came down the Missis- 
sippi, and had a very pleasant interview with the colonists. When 
he re-aScended the Mississippi, Iberville and Bienville accompanied 
him as far as Natchez, which Iberville marked as a very eligible site 
for a town. The singular and awful ceremonies of the Natchez In- 



808 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



\ '\ 



I ^ 



i 







Natchez family. 



dians excited the curiosity of the French, and by no means prepos- 
sessed them with a liking for this tribe. 

After this expedition, Iberville again returned to France, leaving 
Bienville in command of the new fort. The colonists had many diffi- 
culties to call forth their exertions ; but famine and disease appeared 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 809 



among them, and, not long after Iberville had sailed, gloom and 
despair took possession of most of them. Sauvolle, whose brilliant 
faculties had excited the admiration and hope of men renowned in 
science, war, and literature, died suddenly on the 22d of July, 1701, 
and the governor's oflSce devolved on young Bienville. He had hardly 
consigned his brother to the tomb, when Iberville returned to the 
colony with supplies, and orders that Bienville should remove the 
principal seat of the colony to the west side of the river Mobile, near 
where the present city of Mobile stands. It was thought this situa- 
tion would give the French command of the gulf, and prevent the 
progress of Spanish dominion. Boisbriant, with twenty men, was left 
at Biloxi. Iberville then sailed for France, promising to return with 
supplies and colonists ; but a war between France and Spaiuj and 
other expeditions, occupied him till his death. 

In waiting for the expected return of the founder of the colony, the 
French suffered from anxiety and want. The Spanish governor of 
Pensacola, in payment for a like kindness, sent a vessel to relieve 
their famine ; and, soon after, a ship from France arrived. Plenty 
noAv blessed the adventurers. Many persons came out to settle per- 
manently in the country; and Louis le Grand himself sent out many 
things most desirable in a new settlement. But disputes among those 
in authority in Louisiana prevented peaceful prosperity from visiting 
it, and some of the Indians began to commit depredations when a 
chance appeared. 

The Chickasaws and Cherokees, very large and powerful tribes, 
were the most dreaded by Bienville. He made them presents of all 
the goods he could spare, but could not conceal his weakness from 
them, when it was clear that fear alone could restrftjn them from at- 
tacking those whom they considered as invaders. Bienville's enemies 
were now successful in their schemes; and, on the 13th of July, 1707, 
the minister of France appointed De Muys to succeed him. But De 
Muys died at Havana, Bienville was continued in office, and La Salle, 
his chief enemy, Avas dismissed. 

In 1708, the population of Louisiana did not exceed two hundred 
and seventy-nine persons. The colony seemed " to gasp for breath" 
until 1712, when the king of France granted to Anthony Crozat, an 
enterprising merchant, the exclusive privilege, for fifteen years, of 
trading in all that immense and undefined territory which France 
claimed as Louisiana. " He also had the privilege," says Gayarre, 
" of owning for ever all the lands that he would improve by cultiva- 
tion, all the buildings he would erect, and all the manufactures that 
he might establish. His principal obligation, in exchange for such 



810 BORDER WARS OP LOUISIANA. 



advantages, was to send every year to Louisiana two ships' loads of 
colonists, and, after nine years, to assume all the expenses of the ad- 
ministration of the colony, including those of the garrison and of its 
officers ; it being understood that, in consideration of such a charge, 
he would have the privilege of nominating the officers to be appointed 
by the king. In the mean time, the annual sum of fifty thousand 
livres (ten thousand dollars) was allowed to Crozat for the king's share 
of the expenses required by Louisiana. It was further provided that 
the laws, ordinances, customs, and usages of the prevostship and vis- 
county of Paris should form the legislation of the colony. There was 
also to be a government council similar to the one established in San 
Domingo and Martinique. This charter of concessions virtually made 
Crozat the supreme lord and master of Louisiana. Thus Louisiana 
was dealt with as if it had been a royal farm, and leased by Louis 
XIV. to the highest bidder. It is a mere business transaction, but 
which colours itself with the hue of romance when it is remembered 
that Louisiana was the farm, Louis XIV. the landlord, and that 
Anthony Crozat was the farmer." 

When Crozat obtained his charter, the military force in Louisiana 
did not exceed two companies of infantry of fifty men each. There 
were also seventy-five Canadians in the pay of the king, and used for 
every species of service. The balance of the population amounted to 
about three hundred, scattered over a vast extent of country. In 
1713, a ship reached Louisiana with the new governor, Lamothe Ca- 
dillac, other new officers, and a commission for Bienville to act as 
lieutenant-governor. But serious disputes soon broke out in the co- 
lony. The colonists were divided into two parties, Cadillac being at 
the head of one, Bienville at the head of the other. It was evident 
to most that the new governor was unfit for his office, and did not 
attend to its duties. 

The Natchez Indians having become very troublesome, Bienville, 
with thirty-four men, was sent to chastise them, and build a fort upon 
fheir territory. On the 24th of April, 1716, the lieutenant-gover- 
nor encamped on an island in the Mississippi, opposite the village of 
the Tunicas. He immediately sent a Tunica to inform the Natchez 
that he was coming to establish a factory among them. By this strata- 
gem, he hoped to accomplish his aim without a collision with the 
greatly superior numbers of that tribe. On the 27th, three Natchez 
warriors came to see Bienville, ostensibly to compliment him, but 
really to act as spies. These envoys were well treated, and sent back 
in company with a Frenchman, whose mission it was to invite the 
Natchez chiefs to a conference upon the island. 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 811 



The chiefs accepted the invitation, and came to the island in great 
state on the 8th of May. Bienville had skilfully prepared his net for 
them. When they had completely entered it, he demanded, in a stern 
tone, what satisfaction they had to offer for the murder of some French- 
men, whom they had slain Avithout provocation. They were astounded, 
and could give no reply, as they had thought Bienville knew nothing 
of the bloody transaction. The chiefs were thrown into a dungeon 
and fettered. The Great Sun and his two brothers were given one 
night to choose whether they would deliver up the murderers or suffer 
themselves. 

The next morning, the Little Sun was permitted to go back to the 
Natchez country to bring the heads of the murderers. Five days 
elapsed, and he then returned with three heads. But Bienville refused 
to accept the heads of innocent men, and so retained his prisoners. In 
the mean time he was reinforced by twenty-two Frenchmen and Cana- 
dians, who, through his warning, had escaped the attacks of the 
Natchez. The Great Sun now confessed that the real murderers of the 
Frenchmen were among the prisoners, and pointed them out. These 
were put to death, and the rest of the prisoners dismissed, upon terms 
dictated by Bienville, and very advantageous to the French. 

On the 25th of August, Bienville was strongly posted in the midst 
of the Natchez. Fortifications had been rapidly erected, and the ma- 
terial of war placed in them. Bienville left M. Pailloux in command 
of Fort Rosalie, as it was named, and returned to Mobile. Cadillac 
was now dismissed from the post which his obstinacy and weakness 
had brought into contempt. On the 9th of March, 1717, three ships 
arrived from France, bringing three companies of infantry, fifty colo- 
nists, De I'Epinay, the new governor, the cross of St. Louis for 
Bienville, and also the concession to him of Horn island on the coast 
of Alabama. 

The schemes of Crozat had failed to result as brilliantly as expect- 
ed. All attempts to open a trade with Mexico proved abortive, and 
neither mines nor precious stones were found in the territory under the 
charter. In August, 1717, Crozat surrendered his charter to the king; 
and on the Gth of September, the privileges which had been possessed 
by Crozat were transferred to the Company of the Indies, of which 
the famous John Law was the soul. This transfer gave a wonderful 
impulse to Louisiana, but many individuals in France long after re- 
gretted their entrance into the Mississippi scheme. 

Early in 1718, the company sent three vessels to Louisiana, with 
three companies of infantry and sixty-nine colonists, who landed on 
the 9th of March. Bienville was now created governor, an office which 



812 BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



his toils and sacrifices had justly earned. The first act of Bienville's 
new administration was the selection of the site and the establishment 
of the town of New Orleans. The importance of the present city is 
the best proof of Bienville's sagacity and judgment. In the course 
of 1718 and '19, several vessels arrived from France with colonists. — 
but not such as, in Bienville's opinion, the circumstances of the colony 
demanded. 

War breaking out between France and Spain, Bienville fitted out 
an expedition, and took possession of Pensacola, of which his brother, 
Chateaugu^, was appointed commandant. But two months afterward, 
Chateaugu(^ was compelled to surrender to an overwhelming force from 
Havana. After the surrender of Pensacola, the Spanish fleet appeared 
before Dauphine island, which was defended by one hundred and sixty 
Frenchmen and two hundred Indians, under the command of Serigny. 
The French ship Philippe was anchored within pistol-shot of the shore. 
The Spaniards dared not come to a close attack, but contented them- 
selves with attempts to land on various parts of the island, and with a 
fruitless cannonading. On the 26th of August, the enemy abandoned 
the siege and returned to Pensacola. 

Three ships of war, convoying two of the company's vessels, now 
arrived, and enterprises against Pensacola and the Spanish fleet were 
projected. The expedition against Pensacola was perfectly successful. 
After a two hours' contest, in which the address of the French gover- 
nor was honourably displayed, the garrison surrendered, and the fleet 
followed its example. Soon after this successful expedition, the seat of 
government of Louisiana was removed to New Biloxi, on the Biloxi Bay. 

In 1720, Louisiana received large additions to its European popu- 
lation. The English traders in the west now saw the rapid progress 
of the French, and by their influence among the Indians endeavoured 
to check it. In the course of 1720, a war between the French and 
Chickasaws occurred, but the address of Bienville succeeded in securing 
a treaty of peace for a short time. Accessions to the population 
continued to arrive, and the company, to secure a regular administra- 
tion of affairs, removed the subordinates of Bienville, who interfered 
with his measures, and appointed his friends to office. 

But the general system of the company was narrow and despotic. 
Its whole aim seemed to be to make money out of the colony. In 
1721, there were about one hundred negroes in Louisiana, employed 
in cultivating the ground. A considerable number of Germans had 
arrived, and a few of them had settled. In 1723, the seat of govern- 
ment was definitively transferred to New Orleans, which then con- 
tained one hundred houses. 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 81i 



The Chickasaws becoming very troublesome, Bienville stimulated 
the Choctaws, the allies of the French, to undertake an expedition 
against them. The Chocta^YS eagerly seized the occasion, attacked 
the Chickasaws, destroyed three villages, and took four hundred scalps 
and one hundred prisoners. This was a crushing blow, and prevented 
the Chickasaws from attempting further mischief. But the Natchez 
now got into difficulty with the French and murdered three traders. 
Bienville collected seven hundred men, and immediately marched into 
their country. The heads of the murderers were given up to him by 
the overawed tribe, and then a treaty of peace was concluded. In 
January, 1724, Bienville was compelled to go to France to answer 
the charges of his enemies. Before he set out, he promulgated the 
famous Black Code, containing all the laws relating to slaves. The 
enemies of the founder of Louisiana were successful; he was dismissed 
from office, and on the 9th of August, 1726, Pdrier was appointed 
in his stead. 

Governor Perier was very active, at the commencement of his ad- 
ministration, in extending the influence of the French over the Indians, 
and diminishing that of the English. His efforts, however, were not 
seconded by his subordinates. In 1829, the French settlement at 
Natchez was under the command of Chopart, a cruel and rapacious 
officer, who heaped outrage in every shape upon the Natchez Indians. 
It was the intention of this man to gain complete possession of their 
country. One day Chopart summoned the Great Sun of the Natchez 
to his presence, told him he had been ordered to take possession of the 
beautiful village of White Apple, and that it was necessary the inhabit- 
ants should move elsewhere. The Great Sun indignantly refused, 
and returned to the village to consult his wise men upon the measures 
to be adopted. In the council which was held, war was resolved upon ; 
messengers were sent to the Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Yazoos, to 
unite them for the extermination of the French. A bundle of sticks 
was sent to each tribe, from which a stick was to be taken each day ; 
the last one to designate the day for the combined attack. To gain 
time for these secret operations, the Great Sun asked for a postpone- 
ment of the removal of his tribe until December, which Chopart 
readily granted. In the mean time, the neighbouring tribes expressed 
their assent to the scheme of the Natchez. 

The curiosity of the mother of the Great Sun gained from him a 
revelation of the whole plot. She was friendly to the French interest, 
and determined to save them, if she could do so without exposing her 
son's life to their vengeance. Through various channels she commu- 
nicated information of the plot to the French commander ; but Cho- 



814 BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



part was as negligent as tyrannical, and the old woman, finding the 
French so careless, believed them doomed by the Great Spirit, and 
made no further effort to save them. 

The morning of the 29th of November came, and so precisely were 
the orders of the Natchez chiefs executed, that at the same moment, 
within a radius of many miles, the house of every Frenchman was 
found full of Indians, asking for powder, shot, and brandy, to go on a 
hunting excursion, or paying old-standing debts. The following 
account of the tragic affair we find in Gayarre's History of Lou- 
isiana : — 

At eight, the Great Sun was seen departing from his village at the 
head of his nobles and of a troop of warriors. The procession moved 
with a great noise of instruments, and carried, with as much show as 
possible, the stipulated tribute of fowls, corn, oil, and furs. The 
master of ceremonies, gorgeously dressed, and making himself con- 
spicuous above the rest, twirled on high, and with fantastic gestures, 
the calumet of peace. With demonstrations of joy, they went several 
times round the fort, and entered the house of the French commander, 
who, waked up by the noise, made his appearance in his morning- 
gown. Elated at the sight of the valuable presents which were laid 
before him, laughing in his heart at the credulity of those who had 
attempted to rouse suspicions in his mind as to the fidelity of his In- 
dian friends, he ordered the givers of ivarnings, as he called them, to 
be released from their confinement, that they should come to see how 
futile were their cowardly fears. Then the Indians began to dance, 
to sing, and to creep into the fort and everywhere. In the mean 
time, a chosen band of warriors glided down the hill to the bank of 
the river, where the long-expected and richly-laden galley, which had 
arrived the day previous, was moored. There, each Avarrior having 
leisurely picked his man and made his aim sure, a simultaneous dis- 
charge was heard. 

This was the preconcerted signal, which was followed far and wide 
by discharges of firearms so close on each other that they seemed to 
make but one whole. Let us listen to Governor Perier himself, re- 
lating that event in one of his despatches : " Such being the disposition 
of the Indians, and the hour having come," says he, <' the general 
assassination of the French took so little time, that the execution of 
the deed and the preceding signal were almost but one and the same 
thing. One single discharge closed the whole affair, with the excep- 
tion of the house of La Loire des Ursins, in which there were eight 
men, who defended themselves with desperation. They made the 
house good against the Indians during the whole day. Six of them 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 815 



were killed, and when night came the remaining two escaped. When 
the attack began, La Loire des Ursins happened to be on horseback,} 
and being cut off from his house by the intervening foes, he fought to 
death, and killed four Indians. The people who were shut up in his 
house had already killed eight. Thus it cost the Natchez only twelve 
men to destroy two hundred and fifty of ours, through the fault of 
the commanding officer, who alone deserved the fate which was shared 
by his unfortunate companions. It was easy for him, with the arms 
and the forces he had, to inflict on our enemies a severer blow than 
the one we have received, and which has brought this colony to within 
two inches of utter destruction." 

It is said that Chopart had the grief of surviving all his country- 
men. Such was the horror and contempt the Natchez had for him, 
that death inflicted by the hands of a warrior was thought too honour- 
able for the French chief. None of that class condescended to lay 
hands upon him, and the lowest among the stinJcing, or plebeians, was 
sent for, who beat him to death with a club, in his own garden, whither 
he had fled. A few Frenchmen escaped, as it were by miracle, from 
the general massacre : among others, Navarre, Couillard, Canterelle, 
Louette, and Ricard, who succeeded in reaching New Orleans, after 
many perilous adventures. Two men only were spared by the Natchez, 
one wagoner, named Mayeux, to be employed by them in transporting 
all the goods, merchandise, and effects of the French to the public 
square, in front of which stood the palace of the Great Sun, and 
where that sovereign was to make a distribution of the spoils among 
his subjects. The other Frenchman, named Lebeau, was a tailor, and 
owed his life to that circumstance. As the Natchez stood in want of 
his craft, they preserved him to turn him to profitable account, and 
employed him in repairing or reshaping the clothes of the dead, and 
in fitting them to the bodies of the new owners. Dumont relates that 
the Natchez were particularly pleased with the variegated, diversified, 
and highly-coloured patches which he adapted to their vestments. 

The women and children, with a few exceptions, were spared and 
destined to be slaves, their number amounting to about three hundred. 
Many of the blacks, to whom the Natchez had promised their freedom 
and a share in the booty, had been induced to join them in the con- 
spiracy. Some of them, however, had the credit of remaining faithful 
to the French, and succeeded in making their way to New Orleans. 
The Natchez being under the impression that all the French were de- 
stroyed throughout the land, that they had no longer any thing to 
fear from such redoubtable foes, and finding themselves more wealthy 
than they had ever been, gave themselves up to the wildest exhibitions 



816 BOEDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



of joy. They concluded that bloody day of the 29th of Novemher 
by a general carousal, and they kept dancing and singing until late at 
night, around pyramids of French heads, piled up as cannon-balls 
usually are in an arsenal. The agonies of the wretched TYomen and 
children who witnessed the slaughter of their husbands and fathers, 
and who, amid the demoniacal rejoicings which followed, had to bear 
outrages too horrific to be related, are more easily conceived than de- 
scribed ! Long before the next day dawned upon them, the Natchez 
were in such a state of inebriation, that thirty well-determined French- 
men, says Dumont, could have destroyed the whole nation. 

The next day, the Natchez stationed warriors along the banks of 
the river, to watch for boats. A few days after the massacre, five 
Frenchmen, descending the river, being hailed, came to the shore. 
Three of them were shot down, one escaped, and the fifth was captured 
and tortured to death. Another party was fired upon, but escaped. 
The fort of St. Claude was easily captured by the Yazoos, and the 
twenty men constituting the garrison, with their families, were mas- 
sacred. This fort, as well as the one at Natchez, was destroyed. 
One hundred and fifty warriors were next sent by the Great Sun 
against Natchitoches, where St. Denis commanded. That vigilant and 
indomitable Frenchman discovered the designs of the Natchez, eluded 
their stratagems, and concluded by making a sudden and furious 
attack upon their camp. The Natchez were routed, sixty killed, 
many wounded, and but a few reached their native country. 

In the mean time, the Choctaws failed to execute their portion of 
the plan. Governor Pdrier was on his guard, and refused to receive 
the deputation which they sent to cover their intentions. Hearing 
from fugitives accounts of the massacre by the Natchez, the governor 
sent couriers up the river and to all the settlements, advising the 
inhabitants what measures to adopt for their safety. 

On the ICth of January, Perier received information that the Choc- 
taws, treacherous to the other tribes, had placed themselves under the 
command of La Sueur, a French officer, and were marching to attack 
the Natchez. A body of French troops collected at Tunicas for the 
same purpose, and was placed under the command of Loubois. In 
the mean time, five scouts were sent to discover what was going on 
among the enemy. These men were attacked by an overwhelming 
force, Navarre, a brave soldier, killed, and the other four captured. 
The prisoners, however, succeeded in making the savages believe they 
had come with peace propositions, and so gained four days to send a 
messenger to Loubois, with a full account of their situation and the 
condition of the enemy. On the fourth day, no answer to the message 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 81T 



arriving, the Natchez put the three remaining captives to death. But 
the cloud of destruction was hovering over this savage nation. The 
proceedings of their enemies are well narrated by Gayarre, as fol- 
lows : — 

On the 27th of January, they were feasting on the banks of St. 
Catherine's creek, when they were suddenly attacked by the Choctaws, 
headed by Le Sueur. Their defeat would have been complete, if 
those negroes who had joined the Natchez in the massacre of the 
French had not fought with desperate valour, and by their fierce 
resistance had not given time to their Indian allies to retire within 
the two forts they had prepared, in anticipation of the expected war 
which they knew would soon burst upon them. But the Choctaws 
killed sixty of the Natchez, took from fifteen to twenty prisoners, 
rescued fifty-four French women and children, and recovered about 
one hundred of the negroes. 

On the 8th of February, half of the French forces arrived at 
Natchez, and joined the Choctaws on St. Catherine's creek. On the 
9th, they left the quarters of the Choctarws, and encamped at a cer- 
tain distance nearer the Mississippi. The rest of the army came up 
on that day, which was spent in reconnoitring and skirmishing with 
the Indians. The 10th, 11th, and 12th were employed in carrying 
the artillery, ammunition, and provisions from the boats to the French 
camp. The 13th was consumed in fruitless parleying with the In- 
dians, in approaching nearer to the forts, and in transporting pieces 
of artillery on the mound on Avhich stood the Great Temple, and which 
happened to command the two forts. The French protected that 
position with intrenchments. 

On the 14th, at daybreak, the French opened against the forts 
their fire, which was answered briskly. The four pieces of artillery 
which the French had were hardly fit for service, and were wretchedly 
managed. The Natchez had three pieces, which were still more 
clumsily handled. At night, the Natchez came through a cane-brake 
to dislodge the French from the temple. But some grape thrown 
among them forced them to retreat. 

On the 15th, the French, at the distance of five hundred and sixty 
yards, cannonaded the forts during six hours, without throwing down 
one single stake, and the Choctaws, to whom they had promised to 
make a breach in less than two hours, became discourafred, and hooted 
at the impotency of the French missiles. 

On the 16th, a man by the name of Du Pare was sent with a flag to 
summon the forts to surrender. He was received with a general dis- 
charge of musketry, which made him scamper away in such haste that 

52 



818 BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



he left behind him his flag. It would have fallen into the hands of 



"b 



the Indians, had not a soldier, known under the nickname of the 
Parisian, run to the spot and carried away the flag under a heavy fire 
from the enemy. He was immediately made a sergeant as a reward 
for his' valour. At the very moment when the Parisian was rushing 
to rescue the flag, the Indians had opened their gates to make a sally 
to take it. Some Frenchwomen availed themselves of that circum- 
stance to rush out pellmell with the Indians, and succeeded in gaining 
the French camp. But the Indians avenged themselves for their 
escape in the most atrocious manner. The poor women had left chil- 
dren in the fort, hoping that they would be taken care of by their 
companions in captivity. The Indians seized these children, and 
impaled them on the stakes of the fort, to the great horror and rage 
of the French. On that day, an additional body of men arrived at 
the French camp, with four pieces of artillery quite as worthless as 
those the besiegers had already. Despairing to make with such artil- 
lery any impression on the forts, the French resolved to have recourse 
to mining, and went to work^iccordingly. Some, more impatient and 
more intrepid than the rest, offered to rush close to the walls, and to 
fling grenades into the forts, but Loubois refused, under the appre- 
hension of doing as much injury to the French captives as to the 
Indians. 

From the 17th to the 22d of February, the French made scientific 
preparations to attack the forts, and were engaged in erecting gabions 
and in undermining. On the 22d, during the night, one hundred 
Natchez attacked the French works in front, and two hundred in the 
rear, under the protection of a wild canefield through which they had 
approached. Tliey broke through the mantelets, penetrated into the 
last trench or traverse, and assailed with fury the temple and the 
French battery. They fought with desperation during three-quarters 
of an hour, and retired with considerable loss, but carrying away a 
good many blankets, spades, and other articles. The Choctaws came 
to the assistance of tlie French with great readiness. 

On the 23d, the Choctaws threw the French into consternation by 
threatening to withdraw, if the siege was not carried on with more 
vigour. This representation had its efl"ect, and on the 24th a battery 
of four pieces of the calibre of four pounds was established at three 
hundred and sixty yards from the forts, and the French informed the 
Natchez that they were determined to blow them up at all hazards to 
the French captives, if they did not surrender. Intimidated by the 
more active preparations made by the French, the Natchez sent one 
of their female captives, Madame Desnoyers, to make propositions 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 819 



of peace. But she remained in the French camp, and no answer was 
returned to the Natchez. 

On the 25th, the Natchez hoisted a flag as a token that they wished 
to parley. Alibamon Mengo, one of the most famous Choctaw chiefs, 
growing impatient at all these parleyings, which never had any result, 
approached one of the forts, and addressed this harangue to the 
Natchez : " Did you ever hear that such a numerous band of In- 
dians as ours ever remained together two months encamped before 
forts ? From this circumstance, so foreign to our customs and habits, 
you may judge of our zeal and attachment for the French. It is 
therefore perfectly useless in you, who are but a handful of people 
when compared to our nation, to persist in refusing to give up to the 
French their women, children, and negroes. So far, the French have 
treated you with more leniency than you deserve, considering the 
quantity of their blood which you have shed. As to us, Choctaws, we 
are determined to blockade you until you die of hunger." This speech 
had its effect, and the Natchez promised to deliver to the Choctaws 
all the captives, provided the French would remove a^Yay to the bank 
of the river with their artillery. This was done on the 26th, and thus 
terminated the siege. The French, whose numbers, as far as we can 
judge from conflicting statements, amounted to five hundred, lost 
fifteen men during that siege. 

The cowardly and notorious Ecte-Actal acted as negotiator between 
the French and the Indians, and it had been agreed through him that 
the French forces Avould, as I have already said, withdraw to the bank 
of the river, and that the Natchez, on surrendering to the Choctaws 
the French captives and spoils, would remain in quiet possession of 
their lands and forts. This treaty was nothing but the embodiment 
of mutual deceit. The French commander, thinking himself absolved 
from adherence to his word by the proverbial perfidy of the Indians, 
had resolved to recommence the siege, and to complete the destruction 
of the Natchez, immediately after having got the French prisoners out 
of their hands ; and the Natchez, in their turn, who did not trust the 
French, had made up their minds to fly with all the spoils they could 
carry. On the 27th, they delivered to the Choctaws all the French 
women, children, and negroes, and in the night of the 28th they made 
their escape. On the morning of the 29th, the French, much to their 
surprise, saw the forts deserted, and found in them nothing but worth- 
less rags. Thus finished this expedition, which reflects little credit on 
the French arms. It was evidently ill-concerted ; the French ought 
certainly to have been as expeditious as the Choctaws, and to have 
arrived at the same time to strike a crushing blow with their united 



820 BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



forces. On the contrary, the undisciplined Choctaws, -who had to 
come by land over three hundred miles, were the first in the field and 
on the spot, and there had to wait about fifteen days for their white 
allies, who, when they invested at last the forts of the Natchez, and 
attacked with light pieces of artillery, almost worthless, it is true, and 
with five hundred men, could do nothing effective in twenty days. In 
the end, it was the intervention of the Choctaws which succeeded in 
bringing the Natchez to terms ; it was to the Choctaws, and not to the 
French, that they consented to give up their prisoners ; and then, 
eluding the vigilance of the French, or blinding them by the influence 
of bribery and corruption, they achieved their retreat with honour and 
without the slightest loss. 

Diron d'Artaguette, one of the king's commissaries, commenting on 
this expedition in one of his despatches, reflects severely on the want 
of policy, of judgment, and of activity exhibited by Pdrier on this 
occasion. He also blames Loubois for having lost so many days at 
the Tunicas, where he stopped so long under the apprehension of a 
general conspiracy, which, if he moved forward, would, as he feared, 
have put him in the awkward position of having the Natchez in front 
and other hostile nations in the rear, lie speaks in no measured terms 
of what he calls '■'■the shameful conclusion of the siege f' and says, 
"the Choctaws, it is alleged, wanted to retire, but the truth is, that the 
French army was the first to give up ; and strange stories are told about 
silver plate, and other valuable articles, which became the subjects of 
clandestine transactions." He thus goes on, intimating pretty broadly 
that the Natchez bribed the French into allowing them to escape. 

Governor P^rier says : " Several causes have prevented our cap- 
turing the whole Natchez nation. The first, the weakness of our 
troops, which were good for nothing ; the second, the distrust in 
which we were of the Choctaws, whom we suspected of treason. This 
was not without foundation ; for the Natchez, during the siege, re- 
proached them a thousand times with their perfid}'-, after having joined 
in the general conspiracy, of which the Natchez related the circum- 
stances to us. They also boasted that the English and Chickasaws 
were coming to their rescue. All these circumstances, which were 
not encouraging for men who had but little experience, forced Loubois, 
who had served Avith distinction, to be satisfied with the surrender of 
our women, children, and negroes. This was the essential point. 
D'Artaguette (a brother of the commissary of that name) has served 
with the most brilliant valour, and the planters with credit, having 
D'Arensbourg and Dc Laye at their head. The Creoles distinguished 
themselves particularly ; all the officers have done their duty, with 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 821 



the exception of Renault d'Hauterive, De Mouj, and Villainville. 
Fifteen negroes, in whose hands we had put weapons, performed pro- 
digies of valour. If the blacks did not cost so much, and if their labours 
were not so necessary to the colony, it would be better to turn them into 
soldiers, and to dismiss those we have, who are so bad and so cowardly 
that they seem to have been manufactured purposely for this colony." 

The Natchez, on leaving their forts and native hills, crossed the 
Mississippi to take refuge among the Ouachitas. They were pursued 
by the chief of the Tunicas at the head of fifty warriors, who kept on 
their trail in the hope of picking up stragglers. On the territory 
thus abandoned, the French began the erection of a brick fort, the 
command of which, with a garrison of one hundred men, was given to 
the baron of Cresnay, who was also put at the head of all the troops 
in Louisiana, but who continued to act, however, in a subordinate 
capacity to Governor Perier. Loubois was rewarded for his success- 
ful campaign against the Natchez by being appointed major and com- 
mander of New Orleans.* 

The demands of the Choctaws having been with difficulty satisfied, 
Pdrier took advantage of the fears of the colonists to induce them to 
enclose New Orleans, and erect eight small forts between that town 
and Natchez. Although dispersed, the Natchez still made the French 
feel that they were not exterminated. Nineteen men who were cut- 
ting wood in a cypress swamp Avere surprised and killed. Six despe- 
rate Indians penetrated into the fort at Natchez, and furiously at- 
tacked the soldiers, of whom they killed five, and wounded many more. 
Five of these rash spirits were killed in the contest ; the sixth was 
captured, taken to New Orleans, and burned. A few days after, the 
Tunicas carried a Natchez woman to New Orleans, and Pei'ier allowed 
them to torture her to death. Others were burned by the order of the 
governor, who seems to have forgotten the civilized notions of his coun- 
trymen. The woman who was burned prophesied the speedy destruc- 
tion of the Tunicas, and events fulfilled her prediction. The Tu- 
nicas had scarcely returned home when they were attacked by the 
Natchez, their village burned, and their old chief and most of their 
nation destroyed. 

The remnant of the Natchez had taken refu2;e amono- the Chicka- 
saws, who now anticipated a struggle with the French, and prepared 
themselves for it. In the mean time, a reinforcement of troops arrived 
in Louisiana, which increased the efficient force of the colony to 
twelve hundred regulars and eight hundred militia-men. Perier now 

* Gayarre. 



822 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



secured the friendship of the Choctaws, while he sent De Salverte, his 
brother, to the Tunicas, to collect a number of friendly warriors. At 
the Tunica village the forces were mostly united for an expedition, 
the object of which was the entire destruction of the Natchez. 

On the 4th of January, 1731, P^rier joined the army at the mouth 
of the Red River, and with it ascended the river and one of its 
branches till he came to the vicinity of the Natchez fort, which he 
invested, and summoned the garrison to surrender. The Natchez 
refused, and defended themselves until the night of the 25th, when 
they contrived to break through the French and escape ; but Perier 
had previously managed, by the grossest treachery, to gain possession 
of the Great Sun, and many prisoners who had been captured by the 
Natchez. The French demolished the fort and returned to New Or- 
leans. The Great Sun and forty-five other male prisoners, with four 
hundred and fifty women and children, were sent to St. Domingo and 
sold to slavery. This merely exasperated the remnant of the Natchez, 
and their marauding expeditions, in company with the Chickasaws, 
were now frequent and destructive. The Chickasaws refused to give 
up those who had asked and obtained their hospitality, and thus they 
virtually declared war against the French. 

Fortunately for the colony, Bienville was now re-appointed gover- 
nor in place of Pdrier. The company, finding its expenses too heavy, 
had previously surrendered its charter to the king. Bienville returned 
to Louisiana in 1733. Through his exertions, the Choctaws were 
mostly gained over to the French interest, and parties of their war- 
riors harassed the Chickasaws and Natchez. Leseur, with thirty 
Frenchmen and one thousand Choctaws, set out on an expedition 
against the Chickasaws ; but upon the arrival of this force in front 
of the Chickasaw forts, the Choctaws deserted the French, and the 
expedition efiected nothing. In spite of the treaties made by Bien- 
ville, it was clear that the Choctaws were divided into two parties, 
one favourable to the French, and the other hostile. 

In the mean time, the Natchez and Chickasaws continued their de- 
predations. A French officer named Du Coder, with a party of ten 
men, was attacked by a great force of Chickasaws ; eight men were 
killed, and Du Coder, a sergeant, and a soldier captured. These pri- 
soners were well treated, and the Chickasaws made Du Coder write 
to Bienville that they were anxious for peace. But the governor had 
deterfiiined to expel or exterminate that tribe, and he advised the 
prisoners to try to escape. This they efi"ected, and arrived safely at 
New Orleans. 

In the beginning of 1736, Bienville collected all the men who could 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



823 




French, and Indians in camp. 

be spared from the settlements for an expedition against the enemy. 
On the 1st of April he arrived at Tombigbee depot with five hundred 
and forty-four white troops and forty-five negroes. Six hundred 
Choctaws joined him soon after, and the march commenced. On the 
22d of May, Bienville encamped within twenty-two miles of the Chick- 
asaw towns. The next day, fortifications for the protection of the 
boats were constructed, and then the army resumed its wading, diffi- 
cult march. On the 25th, the whole force encamped on the edge of 
a prairie, within six miles of the enemy's villages. The following 
detailed narrative of the subsequent proceedings of the expedition, we 
take from Gayarre's Louisiana : — 

The intention of Bienville was to turn round those villages of the 
Chickasaws, to march upon the village of the Natchez, which was in 
the rear, and to attack first those Avhom he considered as the instiga- 
tors of the Chickasaw war. But the Choctaws insisted with such per- 



824 BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



tinacity upon attacking the villages ■whicli "vyere nearer, and "whicli, 
they said, contained more provisions than that of the Natchez — and 
they represented -with such warmth, that, in the needy condition in 
which they were, it was absolutely necessary they should take posses- 
sion of these provisions, that Bienville yielded to their importunities. 
The prairie, in which these villages were situated, covered a space of 
about six miles. The villages were small, and built in the shape of a 
triangle on a hillock sloping down to a brook which was almost dry ; 
further off Avas the main body of the Chickasaw villages, and the 
smaller ones seemed to be a sort of vanguard. The Choctaws having 
informed Bienville that he would find water nowhere else, he ordered 
the army to file off close to the wood which enclosed the prairie, in 
order to reach another hillock that was in sight. There the troops 
halted to rest and take nourishment. It was past twelve o'clock. 

The Indian scouts whom Bienville had sent in every direction to 
look for tidings of D'Artaguette, Avhom he had expected to operate 
his junction with him on this spot, had come back and brought no 
information. It was evident, therefore, that he could no longer hope 
for the co-operation on which he had relied, and that he had to trust 
only to his own resources. It was impossible to wait ; and immediate 
action was insisted upon by the Choctaws and the French officers, 
who thought that the three small villages, which have been described, 
and whicli were the nearest to them, were not susceptible of much 
resistance. Bienville yielded to the solicitations of his allies and of 
his troops, and, at two in the afternoon, ordered his nephew Noyan 
to begin the attack, and to put himself at the head of a column com- 
posed of a company of grenadiers, of detachments of fifteen men taken 
from each one of the eight companies of French regulars, of sixty-five 
men of the Swiss troops, and forty-five volunteers. 

The order for the attack being given, the division commanded by 
Noyan moved briskly on, and, under the protection of mantelets car- 
ried by the company of negroes, arrived safely at the foot of the hill 
on which the villages stood. But there, one of the negroes being 
killed and another wounded, the rest flung down the mantelets and 
took to their heels. The French pushed on and penetrated into the 
village, with the company of grenadiers at their head ; but being no 
longer under cover, and much exposed to the fire of the enemy, their 
losses were very heavy. The noble and brilliant Chevalier de Contra 
Cocur, a favourite in the army, was killed, and a number of soldiers 
shared his fate, or were disabled. However, three of the principal 
fortified cabins were carried by the impetuosity of the French, with 
several smaller ones, which were burned. But as a pretty considerable 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 825 



intervening space remained to be gone over to assail the chief fort 
and the other fortified cabins, when it became necessary to complete 
the success obtained, Noyan, who had headed the column of attack, 
turning round, saw that he had with him only the officers belonging 
to the head of the column, some grenadiers, and a dozen of volunteers. 
The troops had been dismayed by the death of Captain De Lusser, of 
one of the sergeants of the grenadiers, and of some of the soldiers of 
this company who had fallen when they had attempted to cross the 
space separating the last cabin taken from the next to be taken; 
seeking for shelter against the galling fire of the enemy, they had 
clustered behind the cabins of which they had already taken posses- 
sion, and it was impossible for the officers who commanded the tail 
of the column to drive them away, either by threats, promises, or 
words of exhortation, from their secure position. Putting themselves 
at the head of a few of their best soldiers, in order to encourage the 
rest, the officers resolved to make a desperate attempt to storm the 
fortified blockhouse they had in front of them ; but, in an instant, 
their commander, the Chevalier de Noyan, DTIauterive, the captain 
of the grenadiers, Grondel, lieutenant of the Swiss, De Velles, Mont- 
brun, and many other officers, were disabled. Still keeping his ground, 
De Noyan sent his aid-de-camp, De Juzan, to encourage and bring 
up to him the wavering soldiers who had slunk behind the cabins; 
but, in making the effort, this officer was killed, and his death increased 
the panic of the troops. 

Grondel, who had fallen near the walls of the enemy, had been 
abandoned, and a party of Indians was preparing to sally out to scalp 
him, when a sergeant of the grenadiers, ashamed of the cowardice 
which had left an officer in this perilous and defenceless position, took 
with him four of his men and rushed to the rescue of Grondel, without 
being intimidated by bullets as thick as hail. These five intrepid men 
reached in safety the spot where Grondel lay, and they were in the 
act of lifting him up to carry him away, when a general discharge 
from the fort prostrated every one of them dead by the side of him 
they had come to save. But this noble deed was not lost upon the 
army ; the electrical stroke had been given, and was responded to by 
the flashing out of another bright spark of heroism. A grenadier 
named Regnisse, rather inflamed than dastardized by the fate of his 
companions, dashed out of the ranks of his company, ran headlong to 
the place where Grondel lay Avelteving in his blood from the five 
wounds he had received, took him on his athletic shoulders, and 
carried him away in triumph, amid the general acclamations and the 
enthusiastic bravos of those who witnessed the feat. To the astonish- 



826 BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



ment of all, he had the good luck to pass unscathed through the fire 
which was poured upon him by the enemy, but the inanimate body of 
Grondel, which he was transporting, received a sixth wound. So 
generously saved from the Indian tomahawk, this officer slowly 
recovered, and Avas subsequently raised to a high rank in the French 
army. 

The spectacle then presented to the sight was truly of an exciting 
character. The village attacked was enveloped in a thick smoke, 
through which might be seen to emerge occasionally a body of soldiers 
carrying away some of their wounded. Inside of the smoke, concealed 
behind the heavy logs of M'hich their forts and cabins were made up, 
the Indians, firing through their loopholes, were uttering such appal- 
ling Avhoops and shouts, such blood-freezing shrieks and fiendish yells, 
that one would have thought that thousands of demons were rioting 
in one of their favourite haunts in Pandemonium. To complete the 
illusion, the six hundred Choctaws, with the other red allies of the 
French, almost in a state of nakedness, and painted all over in the 
most frightful colours, as they do when they go to war to make them- 
selves more hideously terrific, kept hovering on both wings of the 
French at a safe distance from the balls of the enemy, while they fired 
at random into the vacant air, emulating the Chickasaws in the pro- 
duction only of horrific and unearthly sounds, gesticulating wildly, 
running and jumping as if they were delirious, and looking like maniac 
devils rather than men. One could have imagined that they were the 
rabble of hell, enraged and thrown into an insurrection by being 
excluded from the feast prepared for their betters. 

Noyan, seeing at last that he was exposing himself and his bravest 
companions in vain, and growing faint under the effects of his wound, 
ordered a retreat from the open field, and taking shelter in one of the 
cabins, sent word to Bienville that he had lost about seventy men, of 
whom many were officers, and that, if prompt relief was not aftbrded, 
no officer would be left standing on his feet, as they would all have 
to share the fate of those who had fallen ; that himself, although, 
from the nature of his wound, in w^ant of immediate assistance, would 
not venture to retire from the field of action, because he feared it 
would be the signal of a general scattering away. 

On hearing this report, and on seeing the French and Swiss troops 
beginning to give ground, while demonstrations of an attack on their 
flank were visible in the direction of the great Indian villages, which 
were further off" at the extremity of the prairie, Bienville sent Beau- 
champ with a reserve of eighty men to support the troops engaged, 
and to bring off" the wounded and the dead. Beauchamp did not exe- 



BORDER WARS OP LOUISIANA. 827 



cute his orders -without losing several men. One of his officers, by 
the name of Favrot, was wounded ; and when Beauchamp reached the 
spot where the contest had been the fiercest, and which might, if the 
expression be allowed, be called the heart of the battle, he found all 
the officers nobly keeping their ground and clustered in a solid mass, 
retaining possession, with desperate energy, of the' foremost cabin 
they had gained nearest to the fort of the enemy. Beauchamp 
gathered together all the men who still remained on that bloody field, 
and retreated in good order toward the French camp, but he could 
not prevent some of the dead bodies from falling into the hands of the 
Indians, who, much to the horror of the French, impaled the naked 
corpses on their palisades. The Choctaws, who so far had kept aside 
and left the French to shift for themselves, seeing them in full retreat, 
seemed disposed, out of bravado, to show to the white faces that the 
red ones could do what the superior race had failed to execute, and 
they marched upon the village as if determined to storm it. But as 
they approached, a general discharge from the enemy having brought 
down twenty-two of their men, they did not wait for another, and 
scampered away like whipped curs, much to the satisfaction and 
amusement of the French.* 

After the repulse of the French, nothing remained for them but a 
retreat ; the troops were in want of provisions, and a renewal of the 
attack only offered the prospect of defeat. The Choctaws v;ere induced 
to accompany Bienville and to convey the wounded ; the retreat was 
effected without loss. At New Orleans, the governor first learned 
the defeat and death of D'Artaguette, who had arrived before him at 
the Chickasaw villages. D'Artaguette, with only about one hundred 
French and three hundred Indians, had been induced to attack the 
enemy, and was proceeding to do so, when he was attacked by an 
overwhelming force commanded by Englishmen. After a desperate 
battle, nearly the whole of the French were killed or captured ; their 
Indian allies fled at the first onset. D'Artaguette, a priest, and fif- 
teen other prisoners, were burned alive by the savages. The ammu- 
nition which fell to the victors enabled them the more effectually to 
resist Bienville. 

The failure of Bienville's campaign against the Chickasaws had the 
effect of dispiriting the inhabitants and checking the progress of the 
colony. During 1737, the war between the Choctaws and the Chick- 
asaws was continued at the instigation of the French, but no import- 
ant engagement occurred. In the next year, ships arrived with forces 



828 BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



and supplies, such as Bienville had frequently asked for in vain ; but 
now, when the means for victory were within the reach of the gover- 
nor, he received orders to yield the command to M. de Noailles, or, 
at least, to submit to his counsel. The year 1739 was spent in pre- 
paration for a campaign which was intended to be decisive. In the 
mean time, the Choctaws harassed the Chickasaws and obtained many 
scalps. 

On the 12th of November, 1740, there were assembled at the mouth 
of the Margot twelve hundred white troops and two thousand four 
hundred Indians ; but this numerous army did not even attempt hos- 
tilities : the provisions Avere exhausted, and the forces dismissed to the 
quarters from whence they had been drawn. The brave Celeron was 
not satisfied with such proceedings ; he had come from Canada to take 
part in the expedition, and he resolved to effect something worthy of 
all the preparation which had been made. At the head of his com- 
pany of one hundred cadets, and between four and five hundred In- 
dians, Celeron marched upon the Chickasaw villages. When he ap- 
peared before them, the Indians, who seemed to be overawed at the 
extent of the French preparations, and to think Celeron commanded 
merely the van of the great army, appeared as supplicants for peace. 
The French commander gladly accepted their propositions, and sent 
some of the Chickasaw chiefs after Bienville. The governor concluded 
a treaty with them, by which they agreed to give up the Natchez who 
remained among them, and to exterminate the remnant of that tribe. 
The Choctaws Avcre not included in the treaty. Celeron then returned 
to Canada, being the only officer in the expedition who had gained 
any reputation. 

The treaty with the Chickasaws did not prevent them from resum- 
ing their depredations as soon as they were satisfied the French forces 
had retired. The Choctaws waged war against them, however, with 
such spirit and success, that the Chickasaws were threatened with the 
fate of the Natchez. The government of France was dissatisfied with 
the result of the great expedition against the enemy, and Bienville, 
perceiving that he had lost its favour, asked to be recalled. His 
request was granted, and in May, 1743, the founder of Louisiana left 
the country never to return. All accounts agree in representing him 
as an active, zealous, and talented, but unfortunate man, and he left 
behind him those who venerated him as the father of the colony. 
The Marquis de Vaudreuil, Bienville's successor, arrived at New 
Orleans on the 10th of May, 1743. The new governor managed to 
conclude an advantageous treaty with the Chickasaws, and to induce 
the Choctaws to consent to bury the hatchet. 



BORDER WARS OF LOUISIANA. 



829 



From this time, Louisiana continued to increase in population and 
importance. Its limits "were also greatly extended by the exertions 
of government agents and adventurers. The command of Missouri 
Tvas secui'ed by a fort built upon the site of the present city of St. 
Louis, and called by the same name. In 1762, France ceded the 
Avhole of Louisiana to Spain, in whose possession it continued until 
1800, -when, under the government of Napoleon, the French again 
obtained possession of the country. In 1803, it Avas purchased by the 
United States for fifteen million dollars. Soon after this purchase, 
the present State of Louisiana was separated from the rest of the 
country, and called the territory of Orleans. In 1812, Louisiana, 
having obtained the necessary qualifications, was admitted to a mem- 
bership in the confederacy. 






Cathedral, New Orleans. 




THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




USSIA has grown to a power 
of the first importance with- 
in a century and a half. It 
now comprises almost the 
entire northern part of the 
eastern continent, from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific. That portion of the empire 
^ which is in Europe, though less exten- 
sive than the Asiatic portion, is by far 
i^ the most important in a political point 
of view. It forms a vast plain, stretch- 
ing from Prussia and Austria to the Ural Mountains, and from the 
Caucasus to the northern extremity of the continent. The great 
majority of the people belong to the Caucasian race; the rest are of 
Mongol origin. 

830 




THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 833 



The Greeks and Romans knew very little of the inhabitants of 
Russia until the ninth century. They were anciently called Scythians 
and Sarmatians. In A. D. 862, the people of Novgorod, who had long 
been suffering from civil wars, sent an embassy to the Scandinavian 
peninsula, which was noted for brave and prudent men, to ask for one 
of them to become their sovereign. Three brothers, named Ruric, 
Snio, and Truvor, belonging to the family of Buss, accepted the 
invitation, and Ruric became the founder of the reigning dynasty of 
Russia. Wladimir the Great, one of Ruric's successors, married a 
daughter of the Greek emperor in 988, and became converted to 
Christianity. Kiew, the capital of Russia, soon after became a city 
of great extent and magnificence. As the country was divided into 
many principalities, it fell an easy prey to the Mongolians, who, in 
1238, invaded and conquered all except the city and territory of 
Novgorod. The Mongols permitted the grand-dukes to continue 
reigning, but forced them to pay a heavy tribute. 

Various attempts were made by the Russian dukes to throw off the 
Mongolian yoke, and they were finally successful in 1554. In the 
mean time, Ivan, surnaraed the Great, who reigned from 14G2 to 
1505, subjected all dependent principalities to his rule, and thus 
founded one empire, upon which he assumed the title of czar. The 
male line of the house of Ruric became extinct in 1598, and a period 
of fifteen years ensued, during which both the Poles and the Swedes 
wrested several provinces from the empire. At length, becoming strong 
from internal order, the Russians drove back their foes, recovered their 
provinces, and elected Michael Romanow, whose mother belonged to 
the house of Ruric, their king. Michael, his son Alexei, and grandson 
Feodor III., were distinguished for integrity and capacity. 

On the death of Feodor III. in 1682, Peter, afterward surnamed 
the Great, was left as heir to the throne. But the influence of his 
mother, Sophia, was directed in favour of his brother Ivan, so that 
they were crowned together. Peter possessed a strong will and an 
inquisitive mind, while his brother was weak. Sophia perceived the 
superior ability of Peter, and by various intrigues endeavoured to keep 
him from his proper share in the government. But she was detected, 
and forced to take the veil. Peter then made a solemn entry into 
Moscow, and began to administer the affairs of government. His first 
aim was to create a standing army, according to European tactics. 
This he effected through the aid of foreign skill. He then determined 
to possess a naval force, and engaged a Dutchman named Karsten 
Brand to be his chief ship-builder. In 1794, the czar entered Arch- 
angel with several Russian vessels, and appointed Prince Romana- 

53 



834 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




dowski admiral of the fleet. A war -with the Porte called forth Peter's 
greatest exertions, and he was successful on land and sea. By the 
capture of Azoph, he became master of the commerce of the Black 
Sea. For the security of this place, he deemed it necessary to increase 
his naval force, and sent many young men into foreign lands to learn 
the art of ship-building. In April, 1697, the active czar set out on 
his celebrated journey through the German states. At Saardera, he 
caused himself to be enrolled among the workmen at ship-building, 
under the name of Peter Michaeloff. There he remained, faring like 
the other workmen, until the expiration of seven weeks, when, having 
mastered the art of naval construction, he went to Amsterdam, super- 
intended the building of a Russian ship of war, visited England, and 
engaged many skilful engineers and naval officers in his service, and 
then hurried to Moscow to suppress an insurrection of the Strelitzes. 
(September, 1698.) The insurgents were cruelly treated when at his 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



837 




Catharine I. 



feet ; many were banished, and hundreds put to death. About this 
time, the noted Alexander Menzikoff came into favour with the czar, 
but he did not make a conspicuous figure until the reign of Catha- 
rine I. 

Russia assumed a new form under the active czar, who was never 
satisfied unless employed in making improvements, and increasing the 
strength as well as the civilization of his empire. Becoming involved 
in a war with Sweden, he was defeated by Charles XII. at Narva. But 
he raised a new army, and was successful. Upon the northern seas 
the czar gained several decided triumphs, and won the distinction of 
rear-admiral. The Swedes were finally defeated under the walls of 
Pultowa. Peter then began to reorganize his army, erect fortifications, 
and collect munitions of war. In the mean time the city of St. Peters- 
burg was founded at the moiith of the Neva, and protected by strong 



838 THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 




Catharine II. 



fortifications. In a war with the Turks, which followed the defeat of 
the king of Sweden, Peter was surrounded by a numerous enemy, and 
forced to purchase safety for himself and army by the sacrifice of 
Azoph. But in the wars against Sweden, Peter was very successful, 
and was hailed "vice-admiral" by Romanadowski. The great czar, 
who may be regarded as the founder of the Russian power, died in 
February, 1725. He was a man of powerful genius ; and his faults 
were those usually resulting from the strongest passions. 

Catharine I. succeeded her husband, Peter the Great. This woman, 
who is said to have been the daughter of a peasant, was distinguished 
for kindness, intelligence, and firmness. The archbishop of Plescow 
swore before the people and troops, that Peter, on his death-bed, had 
declared Catharine alone worthy to succeed him in the government, 
and she was accordingly proclaimed empress. But her reign lasted 
only until May, 1727, when she died suddenly. 

Peter II., grandson of Peter the Great, succeeded the empress 
Catharine. The male line of Romanow became extinct with him in 
1730. Yet he left two daughters, Catharine and Ann. The latter 
ascended the throne, and was, in 1740, succeeded by her niece, who, 
however, was removed in 1741, and succeeded by the empress Eliza- 
beth, a daughter of Peter I. She died in 1762, and was succeeded by 
her nephew, Peter III., whose reign lasted only six months, when he 
was succeeded by his consort, the empress Catharine II., a woman of 
remarkable ability and great ambition, but too fond of pleasure and 



THE KUSSIAN EMPIRE. 



839 



dissipation. She was never "without her favourite, who, by the manner 
in which she distinguished him, was publicly designated as such. She 
protected commerce, improved the laws, dug canals, founded towns, 
endeavoured to check abuses in the different departments of the govern- 
ment, and encouraged literature. During her reign the Russians were 
victorious against the Turks, both by sea and land, and extended the 
bounds of their empire to the Caucasus, as well as over portions of 
Poland. Catharine died of apoplexy on the 9th of November, 1796. 
Catharine II. was succeeded by her son Paul L, who died in 1801, 
and was succeeded by Alexander I. Nicholas, the brother of Alex- 
ander I., ascended the throne in 1825, and continues to reign, exhibit- 
ing governmental skill, diplomatic tact, and private virtue. At present 
the power of Russia is felt throughout the continent, and it is con- 
stantly increasing. As that power will be exerted for the extension 
of despotism, such as exists in Russia, we cannot regard this as a 
desirable state of affairs. 





POLAND. 



OLAND is an extensive country in tlie 
northern part of Europe, reaching 
from the foot of the Carpathian 
mountains and the plains of the 
Ukraine to the shores of the Bal- 
tic, and from the 15th to the 32d 
degree of east longitude. Although 
it has ceased to constitute a sepa- 
rate and independent state, the 
country is divided from those ^Yhich 
surround it, by national character, 
language, and manners. Poland has for a thousand years been re- 
markable for its miserable condition. In the great convulsions 
produced by the incursions of the Goths and Huns, and still more in 
its two hundred years' struggles with the Germans, and in its civil wars, 
the Poles acquired a wonderful elasticity of character, compounded of 

840 




POLAND. 841 



obstinacy and pliancy. The first Sclavonic tribes, who in the sixth 
century expelled the old Finnish tribes, marched up the Dnieper, and 
followed down the course of the Vistula, settling on both sides, and 
assuming diflferent names. In 840, the people between the Vistula and 
Warta were united under Piast, a prince of their own choice ; but they 
were afterward divided into small principalities under his male heirs, 
so that there remained no other bond of union than aflSnity of origin, 
a common reigning family, and a common name. In the history of this 
period, the names of Tarnoffski, Tamoyski, and Zollskieffski are im- 
mortal, as those of pure and patriotic men. In 1025, the principalities 
were united in one kingdom, under Boleslaus Chrobry. But internal 
troubles continued, the root of them being the existence of a powerful 
and oppressive aristocracy. The arrogance of the hierarchy, and the 
bitter hatred nourished between the Germans and Poles by two hun- 
dred years of warfare, prevented Christianity from having a beneficial 
influence on the country. Casimir, surnamed the Great, a wise and 
energetic prince, succeeded in establishing social order, but was com- 
pelled to yield a portion of his territory to the Germans. With him, 
in 1370, the male line of the Piasts became extinct. Poland then 
became united with Hungary, under the rule of Louis. In 1386, the 
Lithuanian Grand-duke Jagellon obtained the Polish crown by mar- 
riage and election. A diet was now established for Poland and Lithu- 
ania, and the united countries constituted a powerful but turbulent 
state. The extinction of the Jagellon dynasty in 1572, was the com- 
mencement of the elective monarchy. Thenceforward, party hatred 
divided the leaders of the nobility, and family feuds called foreign 
arms into the country. At home all political order had yielded to 
anarchy, when in the reign of John Casimir (1648-69) a law was 
passed by which a single deputy could negative the resolution of the 
rest. 

John Sobieski, or John III., was one of the greatest warriors of the 
seventeenth century. He was born in 1629. He early distinguished 
himself in a war against the Cossacks, and became grand marshal and 
general of the kingdom. He was the terror of the Tartars and Cos- 
sacks. On the 11th of November, 1673, he won the famous battle at 
Chockzim against the Turks, who lost there twenty-eight thousand 
men. In the following year he was elected king of Poland. When 
the Turks laid siege to Vienna in 1683, he hastened thither with a 
Polish army, and rescued the imperial city. The Turks were com- 
l^letely defeated ; and the valiant Sobieski sent the standard of 
Mohammed to the pope, with the following modest communication : 
<'I came, I saw, and God has conquered." This great victory saved 



842 



POLAND. 



Europe from the power of the Mohammedans. Sobieski died, much 
lamented, in 1696. 

Internal troubles followed ; and in 1704, the Swedish arms disposed 
of the throne of Poland. The nobility became entirely corrupt, and 
the strength of the country was gone. The Jews and others revolted, 
and every passion was thrown into a fatal rage, when Catharine II. 
of Russia placed her favourite, Poniatowski, on the throne. He 
wavered between Russian protection and Polish independence, till he 
lost the respect of all. Civil wars ensued, and Russia gained the 
control of affairs in the kingdom. In September, 1772, the Russian 
minister made known the resolution of the courts of Russia, Austria, 
and Prussia, to partition Poland among them ; and this infamous 
scheme was effected in September, 1773. But in March, 1794, the 
heroic Kosciusko became the head of the confederates of Cracow, 
whose object was the freedom of their country. The battle of Ra- 
dowid, and the relief of Warsaw, which was besieged by a Russian 
army, are the most glorious days in the history of the Polish nation. 
But without allies, fortresses, discipline, or even arms, surrounded by 
the armies of three mighty powers, the convulsive efforts of national 
despair must have been fruitless after the battle of Maziewid, and the 
fall of Praga. In October, 1795, the whole country was divided be- 
tween Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The last king died at Petersburg, 
in 1798. Since that time, the Poles have made several determined 
efforts to recover their freedom and national independence ; but the 
great power against which they have had to contend has overwhelmed 
them. The suppression of each rebellion added new rivets to their 
chains ; and their condition is now as miserable as it has ever been. 





SWEDEN. 



WEDEN has occasionally taken a higli rank 
among the powers of Europe. Its early his- 
tory is included in that of all Scandinavia, 
which we give in another place. Sweden em- 
braces the eastern and larger portion of the 
Scandinavian peninsula. Its northern pro- 
vinces are mostly barren, as in Norway, or 
covered with vast forests, while the southern 
provinces are fertile and well-cultivated. The 
climate is generally cold. 
From 1397 until 1521, Sweden was united with Norway under the 
Danish rule. At that time, the tyranny of Christian II. of Denmark 
was so severe that matters were driven to extremity. Gustavus Vasa, 
or Wasa, a descendant of the ancient kings of Sweden, had fled from 

843 




844 SWEDEN. 



Stockholm to escape the rule of Christian, and concealed himself in 
the forests of Dalecarlia. A massacre committed bj the king at 
Stockholm roused the Swedes, and favoured the eiforts for their libe- 
ration. Gustavus raised the national banner in Dalecarlia, and was 
soon joined by great numbers of his countrymen. A struggle of three 
years' duration ensued. The Swedes were constantly victorious, and 
Gustavus entered Stockholm in triumph. The king of Denmark was 
at length compelled to recognise the independence of Sweden, and 
her heroic liberator was crowned king, (a. d. 1527.) Gustavus intro- 
duced the Protestant reformation into the country, encouraged learn- 
ing and industry, and raised his kingdom from a semi-barbarous 
condition to a high pitch of civilization. 

The accession of Gustavus Adolphus to the Swedish throne, in 
1611, was the beginning of a race of triumph. The Protestant cause 
was threatened with destruction by the Catholic power of southern 
Europe. Sweden was regarded as the main hope of the Protestants, 
and her king, Gustavus Adolphus, was chosen captain-general of the 
reformed league. In 1630, Gustavus took the field at the head of 
ten thousand Swedes and the forces of the German Protestants ; and 
such were his courage, activity, and originality of discipline and 
manoeuvring, that he was constantly victorious. The imperial armies, 
commanded by such generals as Tilly, Pappenheim, and Wallenstein, 
could not withstand him. Russia, Poland, Denmark, and Austria, 
united in the field, were overthrown. The splendid triumphs of 
Leipsic and Breitcnfeld humbled the house of Austria, and secured 
the civil and religious liberty of the German empire. At the battle 
of Lutzen, Gustavus fell in the arms of victory. (November 6, 1632.) 
Even after his death, his generals continued to wage that desperate 
war of thirty years, which resulted so triumphantly for the Protestants. 
At the treaty of peace which followed, Sweden obtained Pomerania 
and other important territories in Germany, and her power was felt in 
Europe until the end of the seventeenth century. 

Christina, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, succeeded him upon 
the throne of Sweden. She was a woman of great strength of mind, 
with much learninci:, and a fcAV eccentricities. She honoured the 
famous Chancellor Oxenstiern as a father, and to his wise direction 
submitted her first steps in government. She did every thing in her 
power to promote civilization, and her court was distinguished for 
talent and influence. She voluntarily resigned the throne, and went 
into retirement. She died a Catholic and at Rome, April 19, 1689. 

In 1697, Charles XII. ascended the throne at the age of fifteen. 
Russia, Poland, and Denmark resolved to take advantage of his youth 



SWEDEN. 



845 




to strip him of his dominions ; but Charles possessed a daring that 
courted danger, a perseverance that no obstacles could tire, and an 
ambition to rival the exploits of Alexander the Great. He quickly 
took the field, and attacked the king of Denmark with such vigour, 
that he compelled him to make peace within six weeks after the decla- 
ration of war. He next marched against Peter, the great czar of 
Russia, and completely defeated a much superior force of Russians at 
Narva. He next entered Poland, gained victory after victory, and, 
at the end of two years, placed a new king ou the Polish throne, 
(1704.) Russia was next invaded by this bold and rapid prince ; but 
at the battle of Pultowa he was entirely defeated by the prodigious 
army under the command of the czar. (July, 1709.) He fled to Tur- 
key, and remained there five years. All his conquests were lost as 



846 



SWEDEN. 



rapidly as they had been won ; and 
Charles, on his return, was killed at the 
siege of Frederickshall, it is supposed 
by treachery, in 1718, 

After the death of her glorious young 
monarch, Sweden was reduced to the 
rank of a secondary power. In 1789, 
Gustavus III. converted the govern- 
ment into an absolute monarchy. On 
the breaking out of the French revolu- 
tion, Sweden joined Great Britain in a 
war against France. In 1810, a con- 
nection was formed between the Swedes 
and Napoleon, and an heir being wanted 
for the throne, Charles John Berna- 
dotte, one of Napoleon's ablest generals, was chosen crown-prince 
of Sweden. Bernadotte conciliated the people by restoring the 
representative form of government. Having joined the allies against 
Napoleon, he received Norway in compensation for Finland, of which 
the Russians had taken possession. Bernadotte ascended the throne 
in 1818, and made an excellent ruler. Dying in 1844, he was suc- 
ceeded by his grandson, Oscar I., the present king. 




Charles SII. 




Gustavus Vasa. 







Mont Blanc. 



SWITZERLAND. 




SWITZERLAND is situated between Germany 
and Italy, and on the west is bordered by 
France. The ancient name of the country 
was Helvetia. The people have ever been 
characterized by a love of freedom, indomi- 
table spirit, and an industrious inclination. 
Switzerland was a Roman province until 406 
A. D., when it was conquered by the Burgun- 
dians and Alemanni. About A. d. 500, it fell 
into the hands of the Franks. After the death 
of Charlemagne, many Swiss counts made themselves independent, 
while part of the country belonged to the Burgundian empire, under 
the rule of the German emperors. Cantons did not then exist. But 
there were privileged provinces, of which Uri, Schweitz, and Under- 
walden elected, in 1257, Count Rodolph of Hapsburg, afterward Ger- 
man emperor, their protector, but refused allegiance to his son. Emperor 
Albert L, because he strove to grasp their privileges. It was at this 
time that the celebrated William Tell appeared. 

William Tell was a peasant of Burgeln, near Altorf. The emperor 
Albert wished to unite the forest towns with his hereditary estates, and 
proposed to them to renounce their connection with the empire, and to 
submit themselves to him as duke of Austria. They rejected his 
offers, and w^ere, in consequence, ill-treated and oppressed by the im- 
perial governors. In 1307, Uri, Schweitz, and Underwalden formed 
a league, at the head of which were Walter Flirst, (Toll's father-in- 



64 



849 



850 



SWITZERLAND. 




law,) Arnold of jMelchtlial, and Werner Stauffocher. Tell was also 
active in making this league. Gessler, the Austrian governor, now 
pushed his insolence so far as to require the Swiss to uncover their 
heads before his hat, and when Tell refused to comply with this arbi- 
trary mandate, condemned him to shoot an apple from the head of 
his own son. Tell was successful in the attempt, but confessed that 
a second arrow which he bore was meant for Gessler, and therefore 
was retained. While he was crossing the lake of the Four Cantons, 
or lake of Lucerne, in the same boat with the governor, a violent 
storm arose antl threatened the skiff with destruction. Tell, as the 
most skilful helmsman, was set free, and he conducted the boat success- 
fully to the shore, but seized the chance to spring upon a rock, pushing 
off the boat. He had fortunately taken his bow with him, and when 
the governor finally escaped the storm, it was to take his death from 



SWITZERLAND. 



851 




the well-aimed shaft of William Tell. The death of Gassier was the 
signal for a general rising, and a most obstinate war between Switzer- 
land and Austria ensued. The governors were deposed, and their 
castles destroyed. The Swiss gained a splendid victory at Morgarton 
in 1315. The victories of Sempach, (July 9, 1386,) where Arnold 
Winkelried sacrificed his life, and of Nafels, (April 9, 1389,) gave 
the people security from their enemies. But in consequence of the 
increase of the warlike spirit, they quarrelled among themselves. 

In 1424, the people of the Grey League established their independ- 
ence, and were soon after joined by those of the other two leagues. 
The emperor Frederick III. then called a French army into Switzer- 
land to protect his family estates. The Swiss made a second Ther- 
mopyloe of the churchyard of St. Jacob, at Basle, where sixteen 



852 



SV/ITZERLAND, 




hundred of them withstood twenty thousand French, under the dau- 
phin Louis, August 26, 144-4. Through the machinations of Louis XL, 
of France, the Swiss now became involved in a war with Charles the 
Bold, duke of Burgundy. 

Charles considered that he was marching to an easy triumph over 
the poor and peaceful mountaineers. He took the city of Granson, 
and put to the sword eight hundred men by whom it was defended. 
But here occurred a striking illustration of the truth, that no nation, 
when it enters upon a war, can tell what fate awaits its efforts. On 
the 3d of March, 1476, the Swiss mountaineers obtained a glorious 
victory over their powerful enemy near Granson. The loss of this 
battle plunged Charles into gloom and dejection. He resolved to make 
an effort to retrieve his tarnished fame, and with a new army returned 



SWITZERLAND. 853 



to Switzerland. The Swiss, under the command of the duke of Lor- 
raine, met him at Murten, (Morat,) on the 22d of June, and again de- 
feated him. On the 6th of the following October, the town of Nancy 
surrendered to the victors, after a long siege. 

At the first information of this siege, Charles of Burgundy marched 
to retake the city from the duke Rene. He intrusted Campo-Basso 
with the conduct of the attack. But that officer was a traitor, and 
protracted the siege until Bene with twenty thousand men came up. 
On the approach of this army, Campo-Basso with his troops deserted 
to them, leaving Charles with only four thousand men. Against the 
advice of his council, the rash duke persisted in risking a battle. On 
the 5th of January, 147T, the unequal forces met. The wing of the 
Burgundian army was broken and dispersed, and the centre, com- 
manded by the duke, attacked in front and flank. The Burgundians 
gave way on all sides, and Charles, carried along with the fugitives, 
fell into a ditch, where he was killed by the enemy. The Swiss gained 
a complete and glorious victory. In the camp of the Burgundians they 
found enough gold and silver and precious stones, as they said, to buy 
their country. This battle destroyed the power and influence of Bur- 
gundy, which was soon after swallowed up in the territories of France. 

The confederated cantons now aspired to conquest, the people being 
fired by the desire of plunder, and the nobles by ambition and glory. 
In 1460, they wrested Thurgau from Austria ; and from 1436 to 1450, 
Zurich, Schweitz, and Glarus contended for Taggerburg, till Berne 
decided the dispute in favour of Schweitz. From this time the can- 
tons bore the name of the Swiss confederacy in foreign countries. At 
home many struggles took place between the lovers of aristocracy and 
those who preferred democracy, Avhile the Swiss troops served abroad 
with increase of reputation for themselves, and success for those who 
engaged them. During the early progress of the Reformation, Swit- 
zerland was torn by fierce and destructive wars. But the Protestants 
succeeded in gaining the supremacy, and comparative peace ensued. 
The Swiss preserved a neutral position during the war of the Spanish 
succession, and exerted but small influence upon foreign afi"airs. Later, 
the power of France was felt in the country, and it was drawn into 
the bloody wars waged by that nation against the rest of Europe. 
After the battle of Waterloo, the allied powers proclaimed the per- 
petual neutrality of Switzerland and the inviolability of its soil. Since 
that time, the struggle between the aristocracy and the opponents of 
privilege denied to all have been the only events of importance in 
Swiss history. The government is now much more democratic than 
it ever was before. 




Costume of tlie time of Henry Vin. 

ENGLAND FROM THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. TO 

JAMES II. 




ENRY VII. died in April, 1509, in the fifty- 
thii'd year of his age. His eldest surviving son 
and successor, Henry VIIL, was now in his 
eighteenth year. Young, handsome, and sup- 
posed to be amiable, he enjoyed at first a high 
degree of popularity. Some years before, he had 
been affianced to Catharine, a Spanish princess, who had previously 
been the wife of his deceased brother, Arthur ; he was now married to 
this lady, the pope having previously granted a dispensation for that 
purpose. For many years the reign of Henry was unmarked by any 
unusual incidents. The chief administration of affairs was committed 
to a low-born but proud churchman, the celebrated Cardinal Wolsey. 
The king became much engaged in continental politics ; and during a 
war which he carried on against France, his brother-in-law, James IV., 
who sided with that state, made an unfortunate irruption into the 
north of England, and was overthrown and slain, with the greater part 
of his nobility, (September 9, 1513,) at Flodden. 

About this time some changes of great importance to European 
society took place. Almost ever since the destruction of the Roman 
empire, the nations which arose out of it had remained in subjection 
to the papal see, which might be said to have inherited the universal 
sway of that government, but altered from an authority over the bodies 

854 



ENGLAND. 



855 




Cardinal Wolsey. 



of men to an empire over their minds. In the opinion of many, this 
authority of the Roman Catholic religion had, in the course of time, 
become much abused, while the religion itself was corrupted by many 
superstitious observances. So long as men had continued to be the 
thoughtless warriors and unlettered peasants which they had been in 
the middle ages, it is not probable that they would ever have called in 
question either the authority of the pope or the purity of the Catholic 
faith. But with knowledge, and the rise of a commercial and manu- 
facturing class, came a disposition to inquire into the authority of this 
great religious empire. The art of printing, discovered about the 
middle of the preceding century, and which was now rendering litera- 
ture accessible to most classes of the community, tended greatly to 



856 ENGLAND. 



bring about this revolution in European intellect. The minds of men, 
indeed, seem at this time as if awaking from a long sleep ; and it might 
well have been a question with persons who had reflection, but no expe- 
rience, whether the change was to turn to evil or to good. 

AVhen men's minds are in a state of preparation for any great 
change, a very small matter is required to set them in motion. At 
Wirtemberg, in Germany, there was an Augustine monk, named 
Martin Luther, who became incensed at the Roman see, in conse- 
quence of some injury which he conceived to have been done to his 
order, by the pope having granted the privilege of selling indulgences 
to the Dominican order of friars. Being a man of a bold and inquir- 
ing mind, he did not rest satisfied till he had convinced himself, and 
many others around him, that the indulgences were sinful, and that 
the pope had no right to grant them. This happened about the year 
1517. Controversy and persecution gradually extended the views of 
Luther, till he at length openly disavowed the authority of the pope, 
and condemned some of the most important peculiarities of the Catholic 
system of worship. In these proceedings, Luther was countenanced 
by some of the states in Germany, and his doctrines were speedily 
established in the northern countries of Europe. 

Henry VIIL, as the second son of his father, had been originally 
educated for the church, and still retained a taste for theological 
learning. He now distinguished himself by writing a book against 
the Lutheran doctrines ; and the pope was so much pleased with it as to 
grant him the title o^ JDcfender of tlte Faith. Henry was not destined, 
however, to continue long an adherent of the Roman pontiff. In the 
year 1527, he became enamoured of a young gentlewoman named 
Anne Boleyn, who was one of his wife's attendants. He immediately 
conceived the design of annulling his marriage with Catherine, and 
marrying this younger and more agreeable person. Finding a pretext 
for such an act in the previous marriage of Catherine to his brother, 
he attempted to obtain from the pope a decree, declaring his own 
marriage unlawful, and that the dispensation upon which it had pro- 
ceeded was beyond the powers of the former pope to grant. The 
pontiff (Clement VII.) was much perplexed by this request of King 
Henry, because he could not accede to it without offending Charles 
v., emperor of Germany, one of his best supporters, and the brother 
of Queen Catherine, and at the same time humbling the professed 
powers of the papacy, which weio now trembling under the attacks 
of Luther. 

Henry desired to employ the influence of his minister, Cardinal 
Wolsey, who had now reached a degree of opulence and pride never 



ENGLAND. 



857 




before attained by a subject of England. But Wolsej, vfith all his 
greatness, could not venture to urge a matter disagreeable to the 
pope, who was more his master than King Henry. The process went 
on for several years, and still his passion for Anne Boleyn continued 
unabated. Wolsey at length fell under the king's displeasure for 
refusing to serve him in this object, was stripped of all his places of 
power and wealth, and, in November, 1530, expired at Leicester 
Abbey, declaring that if he had served his God as diligently as he had 
his king, he would not thus have been given over in his gray hairs. The 
uncontrollable desire of the king to possess Anne Boleyn was destined 
to be the immediate cause of one of the most important changes that 
ever took place in England — no less than a total reformation of the 
national religion. In order to annul his marriage with Catherine, and 
enable him to marry Anne Boleyn, he found it necessary to shake off 
the authority of the pope, and procure himself to be acknowledged in 
parliament as the supreme head of the English church. His marriage 
with Anne took place in 1533, and in the same year was born his 
celebrated daughter Elizabeth. 

In 1536, Henry became as anxious to put away Queen Anne as he 



858 



ENGLAND. 




Death of Anne Boleyn. 



had ever been to rid himself of Queen Catherine. He liad contracted 
a passion for Jane Seymour, a young hidy then of the queen's bed- 
chamber, as Anne herself had been in that of Catherine. In order to 
gratify this new passion, he accused Anne of what appears to have 
been an imagin;iry frailty, and within a month from the time when she 
had been an honoured queen, she was beheaded (May 10) in the Tower. 
On the very next day he married June Seymour, who soon after died 
in giving birth to a son, (afterward Edward VI.) His daughters, Mary 
and Elizabeth, were declared illegitimate by act of parliament, and 
therefore excluded from the succession. 

Hitherto, though professing independence of Rome, Henry still 
maintained, and even enforced, by severe and blood}^ laws, the most 
of its doctrines. He now took measures for altering this system of 
worship to something nearer the Lutheran model, and also for sup- 
pressing the numerous monasteries throughout the country. Being 
possessed of more despotic power, and, what is stranger still, of more 
popularity, than any former sovereign of England, he was able to 
encounter the dreadful risk of ofi'ending, by these means, a vastly 
powerful corporation, which seems, moreover, to have been regarded 
with much sincere affection and respect in many parts of England. 
No fewer than six hundred and forty-five monasteries, two thousand 
three hundred and seventy-four chanteries and chapels, ninety col- 



ENGLAND. 



859 




Sir Thomas More and his family. 

leges, and one hundred and ten hospitals, enjoying altogether a reve- 
nue of £161,000, were broken up by this powerful and unscrupulous 
monarch. He partly seized the revenues for his own use, and partly 
gave them away to the persons who most actively assisted him, and 
who seemed best able to protect his government from the effects of 
such a sweeping reform. By this act, which took place in 1537, the 
Reformation was completed in England. Yet for many years Henry 
vacillated so much in his opinions, and enforced these with such severe 
enactments, that many persons of both religions were burnt as here- 
tics. It was in the southern and eastern parts of England, where the 
commercial classes at this time chiefly resided, that the doctrines of 
the Reformation were most prevalent. In the western and northern 
parts of the country, Catholicism continued to flourish ; and in Ireland, 
which was remotest of all from the continent, the Protestant faith made 
little or no impression. 

After the death of Jane Seymour, Henry married Anne of Cleves, 
a German princess, with whose person, however, he was not pleased; 
and he therefore divorced her by an act of parliament. He next 
married Catherine Howard, niece to the duke of Norfolk ; but had 
not been long united to her when he discovered that she had com- 
mitted a serious indiscretion before marriage. This was considered 
a sufficient reason for beheading the unfortunate queen, and attainting 
all her relations. Though Henry had thus murdered two wives, and 
divorced other two, and become, moreover, a monster in form as well 
as in his passions and mind, he succeeded in obtaining for his sixth 



860 



ENGLAND. 




Sir Thomas More, 



wife (1543) Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer, who, it is certain, 
only contrived to escape destruction by her extraordinary prudence. 
Almost all who ever served Henry VIII. as ministers, either to his 
authority or to his pleasures, were destroyed by him. Wolsey was 
either driven to suicide, or died of a broken heart : Thomas Cromwell, 
who succeeded that minister, and chiefly aided the king in bringing about 
the Reformation — Sir Thomas More, lord chancellor, the most virtu- 
ous, most able, and most consistent man of his time — the earl of Surrey, 
who was one of the most accomplished knights of the age, and the 
first poet who wrote the English language with perfect taste — all suf- 
fered the same fate with Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. 

When James IV. died at Flodden, in 1518, the Scottish crown fell 



ENGLAND. 



861 




Henrv VIII. 



to Ills infant son, James Y., who struggled through a turbulent 
minority, and was now a gay, and, upon the whole, an amiable prince. 
His uncle, Henry VIII., endeavoured to bring him into his views 
respecting religion ; but James, who was much in the power of the 
Catholic clergy, appears to have wished to become the head of the 
popish party in England, in the hope of succeeding, by their means, 
to the throne of that country. A war latterly broke out between the 
two monarchs, and the Scottish army having refused to fight, from a 
dislike to the expedition, James died (December, 1542) of a broken 
heart, leaving an only child Mary, who was not above a week old. 
Henry immediately conceived the idea of marrying his son Edward to 
this infant queen, by which he calculated that two hostile nations 
should be united under one sovereignty, and the Protestant Church 
in England be supported by a similar establishment in Scotland. 
This project, however, was resisted by the Scots, of whom very few 
as yet were inclined to the Protestant doctrines. Henr}'", enraged at 
their hesitation, sent a fleet and army, in 1544, to inflict vengeance 
upon them. The Scots endured with great patience the burning of 
their capital city, and many other devastations, but still refused the 
match. The government of Scotland was now chiefly in the hands of 
Cardinal Beaton, a man of bold and decisive intellect, who zealously 
applied himself to suppress the reforming preachers, and regarded the 
English match as likely to bring about the destruction of his religion. 



862 



ENGLAND. 




Edward VI. 



The slave-trade was first practised in England during this reign. 
The dresses of the nobles and ladies in Henry's reign were exceedingly 
costly and magnificent, and the court was remarkable for the splendour 
of the tournaments, races, shows, and other entertainments, which 
were held almost daily, and the king and his courtiers seemed to try 
which could dress in the handsomest manner, and give the most ex- 
travagant entertainments. 

Edward, the only son of Henry VIII., was ten years old at the 
time of his father's death. The duke of Somerset was appointed 
his guardian. The first thing the Protector (as the duke of Somerset 
was called) did, was to draw up a form or list of prayers and services 
to be performed in the Protestant churches ; many of these prayers 
are still in use. Somerset then sent an army into Scotland to oblige 
the Scots to marry their Queen Mary to Edward. This the Scotch 
refused, and a battle was fought, in which the English were victorious, 
but Somerset was obliged to return to England before he could pursue 
his advantages. 

Somerset then made many excellent laws, but he was (though well- 
meaning and kind-hearted) too weak to manage the people of England ; 
and his own brother. Lord Seymour of Sudeley, lord high admiral 
of England, formed a plot to destroy him, which was, however, 
defeated, and the admiral beheaded. One of the laws passed by him 
forbade Catholics to worship according to their own faith, and Mary, 
the king's sister, refusing to comply with the order, was very severely 
treated; but on her attempting to escape from England, she was 
allowed to have mass (the Catholic form of worship) performed pri- 
vately in her own house. 



ENGLAND. 



863 




Lady Jane Grey. 



The year 1549 was remarkable for riots, as the destruction of the 
Catholic houses of worship oifended the people of that persuasion, who 
consequently revenged themselves by breaking the laws, and doing 
much mischief. The earl of Warwick, in 1551, caused the Protector 
Somerset to be tried for several offences, of which, though he was 
declared guilty, he is generally supposed innocent. He was beheaded 
soon after, Warwick succeeding hira in his office. Warwick behaved 
very cruelly to the Catholics, many of whom were put to death for 
their religious sentiments. The beautiful libraries of Oxford and 
Cambridge were robbed of most of their gold and silver, under pre- 
tence of taking away Catholic relics and books, (or missals,) which 
were highly ornamented. 

The king was next persuaded to settle the crown on Lady Jane 
Grey, (the grand-daughter of Mary, the sister of Henry,) who was 
married to Lord Guildford Dudley, second son of Warwick, or, as he 
was now called, the earl of Northumberland. 

In the year 1553, the young king died, aged sixteen, some thought 



8G4 



ENGLAND. 




Lady Jane Grey refusing the cro'wn. 



by poison, though it was generally said to be of a consumption. His 
last -words were : " my Lord God, defend this realm from papistry, 
and maintain thy true religion, that my people may praise thy holy 
name, for Jesus Christ's sake." 

Although the country was in a very distracted state, owing to reli- 
gious disputes and persecutions, yet the merchants found it very 
advantageous, as they obtained many privileges they had not enjoyed 
before. Trade with Russia commenced in this reign. Edward founded 
Christ's Hospital, in London, for the education of boys, and several 
other schools in different parts of the kingdom. The amusements in 
this reign were of a very much graver kind than those in the time of 
Henry VIII. ' 

As soon as Edward had breathed his last, the duke of Northumber- 
land went to Sion-house, where Lady Jane Grey lived, and saluted her 
as queen ; but she, far from being ambitious of this dignity, entreated 
that it might not be forced upon her, and pleaded the superior claims 
of the two princesses. But the duke had gone too far to be stopped 
by the scruples of a young creature of sixteen ; and Lady Jane, who 
was naturally of a timid and gentle disposition, was soon persuaded 
by her father-in-law, and suffered herself to be proclaimed. No ap- 
plause followed the proclamation, and no one seconded this bold step 
of Northumberland. 

Lady Jane, after a joyless reign of ten days, thankfully returned 
from the royal apartments in the Tower, in which she had been placed, 
to the privacy of her own house ; and the Princess Mary, arriving 
from her retreat in Suffolk, was welcomed by the people with the 
loudest acclamations : for, though the consequences of her stern 



ENGLAND. 



865 




Queea Mary. 

bigotry were dreaded by those of the new religion, they yet dreaded 
still more the unprincipled character of Northumberland. 

When the duke saw his project entirely overthrown, he sought to 
save his own life by the meanest supplications. lie fell on his knees 
before Lord Arundel, who was sent by the queen to apprehend him ; 
and while in that posture, a woman rushed up to him and held a hand- 
kerchief to his face, which she told him was stained with the blood of 
his innocent victim, the duke of Somerset. Northumberland was con- 
demned, and beheaded on Tower-hill. His son Guildford and Lady 
Jane were also condemned to death ; but, on account of their youth 
and innocence, their sentence was not then executed, but they were 
kept in prison. 

The first act of Mary's reign showed a compassionate feeling, which 
raised the people's hopes of her character : she restored to liberty the 
old duke of Norfolk, who had languished in prison, with his unexe- 
cuted sentence hanging over his head, ever since the death of Henry 
VIIL She released also Courtenay, son of the marquis of Exeter, 
a young nobleman whose youth and talents had been wasting in a 

55 



866 



ENGLAND. 




liaiifiiiiiii.. 



prison from his childhood, but who, soon after he was restored to the 
Avorkl, acquired a degree of grace and accomplishment that made him 
an ornament to the court. 

The queen's next act was to release Gardiner, Bonner, and Ton- 
stall, Avho had been deprived of liberty and of their bishopricks in the 
last reign ; and she hastened, with their assistance, to overturn the 
Reformation, and to restore the old religion, and, as much as possible, 
to replace every thing on its former footing. She was greatly anxious 
for a reconciliation Avith the pope, who, at first, made some difficulty 
to receive within the pale of the church such a country of heretics as 
England was now become ; but this difficulty was at length overcome, 



ENGLAND. 867 



and Cardinal De la Pole was appointed legate in England. But Mary, 
though she could restore the mass, the praying to images, and all 
the other ceremonials of the Romish church, found it impossible to 
recover to their former uses the lands and buildino-s of the relidous 
houses. 

The foreign Protestants, who had brought many useful arts into 
the country, now hastily left it, and were followed by many English 
gentlemen, who were glad to escape from the persecutions which they 
foresaw were at hand. Cranmer was advised to fly, but he said he 
had been too much concerned in every measure of the Reformation to 
desert its cause. The queen had early marked him for destruction ; 
she was not of a temper to forget an injury, and hated him for the 
share he had had in her mother's divorce, which many good offices he 
had done for herself could never atone for in her eyes. 

A marriage was agreed upon between the queen and Philip of 
Spain, only son of Charles V., (a. d. 1554.) The match was exceed- 
ingly disliked by the English ; but the archduke was made to agree 
that the administration of the government should remain entirely with 
the queen and her ministers, and that no foreigner should be permit- 
ted to hold any public office. 

Still, so great was the alarm excited, that a formidable insurrection 
arose in Kent, which was headed by Sir Thomas Wyatt, who, having 
travelled in Spain, brought home such an account of Philip as added 
to the previous horror of him that had existed. The object of the 
insurrection was to dethrone Mary, and to place Lady Jane Grey on 
the throne ; and if her father, the duke of Suffolk, did not actually 
join, he at least showed some approbation of it. 

Wyatt, at the head of four thousand men, entered London ; but 
many of his followers, perceiving that no men of note joined his stand- 
ard, silently left him. He was summoned to surrender ; and having 
done so, he was tried, condemned, and executed ; four hundred of his 
unfortunate followers suffered with him, and four hundred more were 
conducted to the queen with ropes about their necks, and, falling on 
their knees, received their pardon. 

Soon afterward, Lady Jane Grey, whose fate it was always to suffer 
for the faults of others, was warned that she must prepare for death. 
The queen sent a priest of the Romish church to harass her last mo- 
ments, by attempting to convert her ; but her constancy was not to 
be shaken, and she employed the small portion of time that was left 
her in prayer, and in writing, in Greek, a farewell letter to her sister, 
in which she exhorted her to be firm in her faith. 

Lord Guildford Dudley was also condemned to die, and entreated 



868 ENGLAND. 



to have a parting interview ; but Jane refused it, lest the affliction of 
such a meeting should overcome their fortitude. She appeared on the 
scaffold with a serene countenance, and declared that she had greatly 
erred in not having more firmly refused the crown ; but that filial 
reverence, and not her own ambition, had been the cause of her fault. 
Her father was beheaded soon after ; and the queen became so sus- 
picious of almost every body, that she filled the prisons with nobles and 
gentlemen. 

The time now arrived that had been fixed for the archduke's coming 
to England, (a. d. 1555,) but the admiral of the fleet which Mary had 
sent to escort him dared not take him on board, lest the sailors should 
commit some violence against him, such was the detestation in which 
he was held. At last he arrived : the marriage was celebrated at 
"Westminster ; and Philip, by his distant and reserved behaviour, in- 
creased the previous dislike of the English. 

From this time the chief business of parliament was to guard against 
the encroachments of Philip ; while Mary's only anxiety was to in- 
crease the power and influence of a husband on whom she doted with 
a troublesome fondness, though he, on his part, could with difiiculty 
conceal his own dislike to his unengaging partner. On one subject, 
however, they were perfectly agreed, namely, in the desire to extirpate 
heresy by the most violent and sanguinary measures. 

Gardiner willingly entered into the views of Philip and Mary ; but 
finding this work of cruelty more arduous than he had expected, he 
made it over to Bonner, a man of such inhumanity that he even de- 
lighted to see the dying agonies of the sufferers ; and would often take 
on himself the ofiice of executioner, adding to the misery of the poor 
creatures who suffered, by a mockery and levity, which, had it not 
been asserted by writers of undoubted credit, one would have thought 
impossible. 

In the course of the next three years, nearly three hundred persons 
were bui-ned alive, martyrs to their religion ; many more suffered 
imprisonments, fines, and lesser punishments. Two venerable and 
pious men, Latimer and Ridley, were among the first who perished; 
and they died exhorting each other to faith and courage. They were 
burnt, in the year 1555, in the public street at Oxford, near Baliol 
College. 

Hooper, bishop of Gloucester, was another martyr. When he was 
tied to the stake, and the fagots heaped about him, the queen's pardon 
was placed on a stool before him, and if he would have recanted, he 
might have stretched out his hand to take the pardon ; but he rejected 
it on such a condition, and died without uttering a groan. 



ENGLAND. 



869 




Latimer. 



If these scenes fill us with horror at the ^Yickeclness of Mary and 
her ministers, they also make us revere the constancy of the sufferers, 
•who, sustained by faith and hope, could thus abide, without a groan, 
the horrors of a death of extreme torture. Far from extirpating the 
Protestant religion, these barbarities only set the hearts of the people 
the more resolutely against a church which could sanction such cruelty. 
The English law in regard to heretics was nevertheless too mild to 
satisfy the ferocity of Philip, and he made an attempt to introduce 
the Inquisition into England, but happily without success. 

At the time when these executions took place, Gardiner also died. 
He was succeeded, as chancellor, by Heath, archbishop of York, a man 
of slender abilities, but of a furious zeal. Gardiner's death hastened 



870 



ENGLAND. 




that of Cranmer. The new chancellor nKule no opposition to the 
queen's wish that he should be put to death, and he was condemned to 
be burned at Oxford. In a moment of weakness, the archbishop, hoping 
by such a measure to preserve his life, signed a paper, in which he 
avowed his belief in the pope's supremacy. But IMary sent him word 
this should not save him, and that he must acknowledge his errors in 
the church before the whole people. 

The strength of Cranmer's mind now returned ; and, when he was 
brought forth to the church to make his public recantation, instead of 
doing so, he bitterly bewailed his momentary weakness, and asserted 
his firm belief in the Protestant faith. He was immediately led forth 
to execution ; and, when the fagots were set on fire, he stretched out 



ENGLAND. 871 



his right hand, with Avhich he had signed the paper, and held it in the 
flames until it was totally consumed, without betraying any symptom 
of pain, saying frequently, "This hand has offended;" then, as if his 
mind was more at ease for having made this atonement, his counte- 
nance became full of peaceful serenity, and he appeared insensible to 
all worldly suffering. 

The next day the Cardinal de la Pole was made archbishop of Can- 
terbury ; and he showed so much lenity towards the Protestants, as 
to excite the displeasure of the pope. 

Philip, who had soon become weary of England, went, in 1555, to 
Flanders ; and the queen, seeing herself treated by him with indiffer- 
ence and neglect, spent her time in tears and lamentations, and in 
writing long letters to him, which he never answered, and, perhaps, 
never read. The more he slighted her, the more she doted on him ; 
and to procure money, in the hope of winning him back by supplying 
him with it, she loaded the people with taxes. 

Though every thing else in France had long been lost to the Eng- 
lish, they still preserved Calais, which had been guarded as the chief 
jewel of the crown by every English king since Edward III., who had 
won it. It was so strongly fortified, and had always been so well 
garrisoned, that the French had never even attempted to recover it. 

In Mary's feeble reign, the monks and bigots who composed her 
ministry thought more of burning heretics than of any other concern 
of state. They had neglected to keep the fortifications in repair ; 
and, to save the charge of what they supposed an unnecessary garri- 
son, withdrew the greater part of it during the winter months. The 
governor had remonstrated seriously, but in vain, against this unwise 
economy. 

The duke of Guise, general of the French array, being well informed 
of these circumstances, determined to attempt the recovery of the town. 
It was surrounded by marshes which, during the winter, were totally 
impassable, and could be approached on the land side only by two 
raised roads, defended by two castles. The duke made an attack on 
these castles, and soon took them, and, in the mean time, the French 
fleet besieged the fortifications of the town next the sea, and thus 
Lord Wentworth, the governor, saw himself enclosed on every side. 

Though Wentworth had only a few hundred men with him, he made 
a brave resistance ; but the town being unprovided with every thing 
necessary for sustaining a siege, he was obliged to surrender ; and 
thus the duke of Guise made himself master, in eight days, of a fort- 
ress that had been deemed impregnable. 

The news of this event struck a universal dismay all over England ; 



872 



ENGLAND. 



and the queen declared that when she died the word Calais would be 
found engraved upon her heart. Mary's health visibly declined from 
this time. The neglect of Philip, and her own disappointment at 
having no children, a blessing she vehemently desired, all preyed upon 
her health. She dragged on a few miserable months, and died Nov. 17, 
1558, in the forty-third year of her age, and the sixth of her reign. 

The Cardinal de la Pole died on the same day with the queen, and 
left an unsullied name behind him. 








Queen Elizateth. 



^^iy;?^^^ARY'S sister Elizabeth Avas welcomed to the crown 
"'" ' by general acclamation. She was about twenty- 
five when she passed as it were from a prison to a 
throne. The remembrance of her misfortunes 
gave an eclat to her merit. After having thanked 
Heaven for her deliverance, as for a miracle, she 
seemed to forget all the injuries of her enemies. 
Even he who had been her keeper, when in prison, found her not 
actuated by revenge. The ambitious Philip II., the late husband of 




ENGLAND. 



873 




John Knos. 



Mary, made her proposals of marriage, but the queen, unwilling to 
have a master, eluded his ofiers, without appearing to reject them. 

When the queen came to the throne, she found an interval of peace 
necessary, in order to restore the shattered state of her finances, and 
to make the kingdom flourish. She therefore concluded a peace with 
France. In the mean time, the court of France gave great umbrage 
to Elizabeth. Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, niece of the Guises, 
and wife of Francis II., who soon succeeded Henry, his father, con- 
tested the legitimacy of Elizabeth's birth, in order one day to dispute 
the crown with her ; and she took the arms and title of the queen of 
England. The Guises added fire to her ambition, and waited only for 



874 ENGLAND. 



a favourable opportunity of confirming her triumph. Elizabeth did 
not slumber on the brink of danger, and the troubles of Scotland 
afforded her the means of preventing it. Religious feuds in that king- 
dom rose to the most outrageous heights. At the head of the Pro- 
testant party were people of the first distinction, ■who established a 
society denominated the Congregation of Jesus, (December, 1557.) 
The famous John Knox kindled and kept alive the religious zeal of the 
Scots, and these revolters had recourse to Elizabeth for protection. 

In vain did Francis II. offer to restore Calais on condition of her 
observing neutrality. She answered that a fishing-town was of small 
consequence compared with the security of her dominions. She 
entered into negotiations with the Scotch reformers, and a very humi- 
liating treaty was signed at Edinburgh, by which the king of France 
and Mary Stuart renounced the arms of England, together with the 
title they had assumed. 

The reign of the queen of Scots was unfortunate. After some years 
of turbulent government, and the endurance of much humiliation, she 
was opposed by many of her nobility and subjects in arms. A battle 
fought at Langside, near Glasgow, A. d. 15G8, was decisive against the 
young queen, and she fled with precipitation to the borders of Eng- 
land, where she hoped for protection from Elizabeth, who, instead of 
protecting her, ordered her to be put in confinement in Tutbury 
castle, yet treated her with all proper marks of respect.* 

The duke of Norfolk, one of the first peers in England in point of 
birth and fortune, and who was beloved and respected by the people, 
flattered himself with the hope of marrying Mary. The sentiments 
of that princess were consulted, to which she replied that her repug- 
nance to a new marriage should give way to the public good, &c. 
Norfolk at first agreed to conclude nothing without the consent of 
Elizabeth ; but, despairing to obtain that consent, he sought to form 
a party capable of supporting his interests. The kings of France and 
Spain, being privately consulted, approved his design. Cecil, secre- 
tary of state to Elizabeth, got intelligence of the conspiracy, and the 
queen one day told Norfolk to take care on what pillow he reposed 
his head. The duke, with many of the conspirators, was arrested. In 
the mean time, to quiet the partisans of Mary, Elizabeth affected to 
negotiate in her favour, and to give testimonies of her attachment ; 
but political motives disguised her real sentiments. Pius V., unable 
to gain her friendship, aimed against her the thunders of the Vatican. 



* For the events connected with Mary Queen of Scots till she was imprisoned in 
England, see the account under the head of Scotland, in the former part of this volume. 



ENGLAND. 



875 




Cecil, Lord Burleigh. 



He excommunicated her, and affected to deprive her of her crown, by 
absolving her subjects from the oath of allegiance. 

In 1588, Philip II. of Spain meditated a most formidable invasion 
of England. All the ports of Naples, Sicily, Spain, and Portugal 
contributed to the immense preparations for the expedition, and the 
"Invincible Armada," as the Spaniards called it, threatened the 
annihilation of the English. The magnanimity of Elizabeth showed 
itself in this juncture. Her fleet at this time consisted of no more 
than twenty-eight sail. The maritime towns, the nobility, and gentry 
testified the greatest zeal on this occasion ; even the Catholics them- 
selves discovered patriotic sentiments. London fitted out thirt}'- ships. 
The land forces were superior in number to those of Spain, and they 
were ready to sacrifice their lives to liberty and the laws. The queen 
appeared on horseback before the camp at Tilbury, harangued her 
army, expressed her entire confidence in it, assured them that she 
would march at their head, and not only behold, but reward, their 
bravery. " My arm," said she, '< is but the arm of a woman, but I 
have the heart of a king, and, what is more, of a king of England," 



876 



ENGLAND. 







n-tf 



Elizabeth haranguing her troops at Tilbury. 



and added, that she would sooner die in the field of battle than survive 
the ruin of her people. The enthusiasm cauglit every breast, and the 
■whole army partook of the ardour of the heroine. 

The "Invincible Armada," first detained by the death of the 
admiral, and secondly by a tempest, put to sea a third time, with a 
hundred and thirty ships, and twenty thousand soldiers on board, 
besides eight thousand seamen, and advanced full sail towards Ply- 
mouth, occupying a space of seven miles in length. The duke of 
Parma engaged to meet them with a large army from the Netherlands. 
But human hopes are often the sport of fortune. An armament, till 
then unparalleled on the ocean, and calculated at once to excite terror 
and amazement, was soon overwhelmed. Admiral Effingham, ably 
seconded by Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, played his cannon 
against the enemy's heavy vessels with success. Two of the Spanish 
galleons were first disabled and taken. To increase their confusion, 
Howard filled eight of his smaller ships with combustible materials, 
and sent them as fire-ships among the enemy. The Spaniards fled 
in great disorder, while the English took or destroyed twelve of their 
vessels. A violent storm completed the ruin of the invincible fleet. 
As it was returning through the Orkneys, seventeen ships, with five 
thousand men on board, were cast away on the Western Isles and the 
coast of Ireland. Not half the number of vessels returned to Spain. 



ENGLAND. 



8T7 




Philip is reported to have said, <' I sent my fleet to combat the Eng- 
lish, not the elements," and he thanked God that the calamity was 
not greater. 

Nothing is more seductive than victory. The English now thought 
of nothing less than of taking Portugal from Philip. Of those who 
made the most signal figure in the depredations upon the enemy was 
the young earl of Essex, a nobleman of bravery and genius, who risked 
every thing for glory. One of the queen's favourite ministers, Leices- 
ter, died in 1588, and the earl of Essex became his successor. He 
became also the professed rival of the sage Burleigh and the cele- 
brated Raleigh. His interest in the queen's aftections promoted his 
interest in the state, and he conducted all things at his discretion. 
In a debate before the queen between him and Burleigh, he carried 
matters so high as to turn his back upon the queen with an air of dis- 
respect : Elizabeth in her anger gave him a box on the ear. Instead 
of recollecting himself, and making that submission due to her sex and 
station, he clapped his hand to his sword, and swore he would not 
endure such an affront, even from her father. His friend the chan- 
cellor advised him to make due apology to the queen, and to consider 
his duty and his fortune ; which he refused. But the queen's affection 
for him was so strong, that she forgot or overlooked the offence. 



878 



ENGLAND. 




'kV 



The troubles of Ireland opened a new scene for the ambition of 
Essex, and he rashly ran upon a fatal career. That kingdom, though 
it had been under the government of England nearly four hundred 
years, was still in an uncivilized state. The attachment of the Irish 
to the church of Rome heightened their aversion to their Protestant 
oppressors. So outrageous was their fury, that in one revolt they put 
to death all the inhabitants of the town of Athamy, because they 
began to be civilized, by adopting the English manners. To subdue 
these disorders was an employment that Essex thought worthy of 
his ambition ; though the queen, for the execution of this design, had 
cast her eyes on Lord Mountjoy. Essex was appointed ; and an army 
of twenty thousand men was raised, not doubting that the first cam- 
paign would be decisive. 

The first acts of Essex, as governor of Ireland, were opposed to the 
wishes of the queen, both in the choice of a master of the horse, and 
in the march of the army ; and after an ineffectual struggle, in which 
his forces were greatly weakened, he concluded a suspension of arms. 
The queen did not fail to signify to him her dissatisfaction, and com- 
manded him to continue in Ireland till further orders. But he pre- 
cipitately left Ireland, arrived in London, and presented himself before 
the queen. Elizabeth gave him a kind reception, but he was ordered 
to be accountable for his conduct to the privy council, and was kept 



ENGLAND. 



879 




Elizabetli signing the deatli warrant of Ess^x. 



sequestered from all society. This humbled his pride. He fell sick, 
and his life was thought to be in danger. The queen shoA^ed herself 
greatly interested in his recovery, and that proof of her tenderness 
was apparently his most effectual remedy. 

In the mean time, Mountjoy, appointed to the command of Ireland, 
conducted himself with great dexterity and success. Essex was tried 
before the privy council, and the chancellor's sentence is remarkable. 
"If the earl of Essex," said he, <'had been tried in the star-chamber, 
I should have condemned him to perpetual imprisonment in the Tower, 
and should have laid a heavier fine upon him than ever was known in 
that court ; but as we are in the train of favour, I declare that he be 
deprived of his offices and functions, remanded to his house, and con- 
tinue there a prisoner during the queen's pleasure." 

Essex lost all hopes of being restored to the queen's favour, and 
flew to revenge. To increase the number of his partisans, he paid 
his court to the Catholics, and even flattered himself that he mio-ht 
gain over the Puritans. His house was a kind of pulpit, where the 
fervours of fanaticism constantly discharged themselves, and the 
imprudent Essex did not spare the queen in his discourses. He repre- 
sented her as an old woman, whose temper was as crooked as her 
person. Elizabeth was informed of it ; and being extremely sensitive 
on the subject of her beauty, though now almost seventy, she felt this 
injury as a woman and as a queen. Every step the earl took in the 
intoxication of his passion brought him nearer to the precipice. He 
attached him.self to the king of Scotland ; he formed a plan for a revolt ; 
and he resolved Avith his partisans to attack the palace, to oblige the 



880 



ENGLAND. 




The Earl of Esses. 



queen to call a parliament, and change tlie administration of government. 
He flattered himself that the inhahitants of London would take up 
arms at the first signal ; but the court, being informed of the plot, had 
taken proper measures to suppress it. Essex appeared in town, ac- 
companied by two hundred men. His seditious exhortations were 
without effect. He was pursued, and notwithstanding his bravery, sub- 
mitted at discretion, (a. d. IGOl.) His trial was soon finished ; his crime 
was notorious. Far from making his defence, he gave himself up to 
sentiments of religion. He not only acknowledged himself guilty, but 
impeached his friends, a circumstance of the most infamous baseness. 
The queen, in great agitation, balanced between justice and cle- 
mency. She felt the revival of an ill-extinguished passion, and if the 
earl would have solicited her pardon, love would certainly have granted 
it. He was executed in the Tower, to prevent popular commotions ; 
for the people, by whom he was too much beloved, were irritated by 
his death. This illustrious criminal was not more than thirty-four 
years of age, descended from a royal lineage on the female side, and 
endowed with superior talents and heroic qualities. 



ENGLAND. 



881 




Francis Bacon, (Lord Verulam.) 

Although Philip II. of Spain died in 1598, that court, still animated 
by the same counsels, sent troops to Ireland. Religion served as the 
pretext to the enterprises of ambition and of rebellion. The commander 
took the title of " General in the Holy War for the Preservation of 
the Faith," and his measures were authorized by the bulls of Rome. 
Mountjoy foresaw this storm. He attacked the Spaniards and the 
Irish rebels ; drove away the former, subdued the latter, and by a 
conduct equally prudent and vigorous, completed in a few years the 
reduction of Ireland. 

The last two years of Elizabeth furnish no memorable event. In the 
midst of her prosperity and her glory, she fell into a profound melan- 
choly ; some consider it as an eiFect of her passion for Essex. After 
the expedition of Cadiz, it is said she gave him a ring, promising him 
that in whatever circumstances he might be, the sight of that pledge 
would induce her to favour him. Essex, when under sentence of death, 
intrusted the countess of Nottingham to carry the ring to Elizabeth ; 
but the earl of Nottingham, his enemy, prevented it. The queen 
waited for the ring with the utmost impatience, and, not receiving it, 
she signed the death-warrant. At last, the countess, in a violent 
illness, stung with remorse, confessed the whole to her. Outrageous 
and inconsolable, Elizabeth at first abandoned herself to her wrath ; 
afterward to all the bitterness of remorse. 

66 



882 



ENGLAND. 




James I. 



A miserable languor soon reduced her to the last extremity. The 
council sent to consult her with regard to her successor ; she named 
the king of Scotland, her nearest relation, and died at the age of sixty- 
nine, after a reign of forty-four years, (a. d. 1603.) 

This princess, too much exalted by flattery, too much blackened by 
censure, will always, notwithstanding her faults, hold a place among 
the greatest monarchs. The firmness, the prudence, and the glory of 
her government, her policy, her vigilance, her heroism, her unavari- 
cious economy, and her address in difficulties, give a triumph to her 
reputation. 

In this reign flourished Spenser, Shakspearc, Francis Bacon, (Lord 
Verulam,) &c. 

James VI. of Scotland, and the First of England, was the son of 
Mary, queen of Scots. lie was married to Anne of Denmark. The 
English nation appeared to be greatly interested in his favour. He 
began his reign by lavishing titles and favours, of which the Scots had 
the greater part ; on which account the English were off'ended. James, 
however, employed Englishmen in the administration, and among 
others, Cecil, secretary of state, who was created earl of Salisbury. 



ENGLAND. 



883 




Sir Walter Raleigh. 



A conspiracy, which has never been sufficiently cleared up, "U'as 
excited in the beginning of this reign. Lord Grey, Lord Cobham, and 
Sir Walter Raleigh \,-ere condemned to die ; the two former were 
pardoned after they had laid their heads on the block. Raleigh was 
respitecl, but remained in confinement for many years, and at last 
suffered for his offence. 

Secure from this danger, James turned his attention to theological 
disputes. The severities of Elizabeth had restrained the partisans of 
the church of Rome ; but the fanaticism of the Puritans was a matter 
more difficult to subdue. Nevertheless, he v/as willing that the divines 
of the church of England should hold a conference with them at 
Hampton Court. The objects of the controversy were mostly the 
ceremonies, and not the doctrines. Some small change in the liturgy 
was the only fruit of this conference. Each party retained its preju- 
dices, wdth all the animosity they inspired. 

From this time the parliament began to assume a more liberal spirit. 
The love of liberty had increased with the taste that now prevailed for 
letters. From the spirit of independence, the parliament opposed the 
union of the kingdoms of Scotland and England ; a union Avhich true 
policy must have considered as the greatest advantage. They also 
refused the king a supply Avhich he wanted. This conduct of parlia- 
ment showed the new principles that were taking root in the nation. 



884 



ENGLAND. 




Anne of Denmark, wif j of James I. 



James did not foresee the consequences. He relied on the rights of 
the crown, without imagining that his subjects could have any rights 
to set against them. 

His weakness and timidity, rather than any political motives, made 
him conclude a peace with Spain. But a great conspiracy disturbed 
that tranquillity so favourable to his indolence. The Catholics, per- 
suaded at first that the son of Mary would certainly favour their 
religion and mitigate their laws, enraged at finding themselves treated 
with the same rigour, indulged in the principles of a blind zeal. 
Catcsby and Piercy, men of distinguished birth, united in a project 
of establishing their religion on the ruins of every thing that was great 
in the kingdom. The king, the royal family, and the parliament were 
to be involved in one common ruin. For the execution of this incre- 
dible enterprise, there were twenty conspirators mutually sworn to 
fidelity. Thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were concealed under the 
hall where the parliament assembled. The secret did not transpire. 
The day of execution was at hand. Happily, Lord Mounteagle, a 
Catholic, was advised by an anonymous letter not to appear in the 
parliament house. The parliament, it was said, would receive a dread- 
ful blow, without knowing from what quarter it came. 



ENGLAND. 



885 







Seizure of Guy Faux. 

Mounteagle consulted Lord Salisbury, secretary of state, and 
though at first they gave but little credit to the letter, they commu- 
nicated it to the king. James judged differently. The vaults were 
searched, the powder was discovered, and one of the conspirators, 
Guido Faux, was taken. The fear of torture at length compelled him 
to declare his accomplices. They, having fled to Warwickshire, stood 
upon their defence, though so few in number. Their powder failing, 
great part of them were killed. Some of them, being conveyed to 
prison, confessed their crime and were executed ; others experienced 
the king's mercy. Two Jesuits, Garnet and Oldcorne, it is said, were 
privy to the plot, and had abused the confession to confirm the will 
of the culprits. Garnet was executed with the rest. 

About the year 1617, James turned his views to Scotland. He was 
extremely desirous of establishing there the mode of worship and doc- 
trines of the church of England. In that country fanaticism had 
raged with all its horrors, and the Scots had expressed an extreme 
aversion to these and like ceremonies. In England, also, from a 
persuasion that holidays were intended not only for the honour of 
God, but as a relaxation from labour, he ordered that, after divine 
service, all manner of harmless amusements might be exercised, which 
gave great offence to many conscientious minds. 

The famous Sir Walter Raleigh, during his imprisonment of thirteen 
years, had written several learned woi'ks, and the favourable disposition 
of the public, who thought such a valuable citizen ought to be restored 



ENGLAND. 







Pvalcigli attaching St, a.hoi±iris. 

to the state, increased his desire and his hope of liberty ; and he ex- 
pected to obtain it by publishing that in the reign of Elizabeth he had 
discovered in Guiana a gold mine of immense value. James, though 
not much struck "with so improbable a report, gave him the command 
of twelve ships ; and Sir Walter, in 161G, arrived on the coast of Gui- 
ana, and attacked the town of St. Thomas, belonging to the Spaniards, 
notwithstanding the peace concluded between Spain and England. The 
place was taken, but no treasure found. This called down the re- 
proaches of those whom he had undertaken to command, and they 
compelled him to return with them to England, to answer for his con- 
duct, lie and his companions were examined before the privy council. 
In the course of his trial he is said to have shown great coolness and 
ability, and to have displayed not less of intrepidity at the time of his 
execution. 

James died in 1625, afflicted to see that peace which he had main- 
tained during his whole reign, and to the preservation of Avhich he had 
sacrificed the able and accomplished Raleigh, broken at last. James 
was liberal, but at the same time extravagant ; his profusion made 
him indigent. The English took advantage of it, and made themselves 
his masters. Elizabeth's economy was the greatest security of her 
prerogative. 

James's eldest son. Prince Henry, a promising young man, died 
during his father's reign. 



ENGLAND. 



887 




Prince Henry, son of James I. 



James I. was succeeded by Charles L, of a harsh and arbitrary 
temper, who (a. d. 1625) endeavoured to put into practice the specu- 
lative tenets of his father. He saw not the state of the nation. 
English liberty had made great progress under the Plantagenets : cir- 
cumstances enabled the Tudors nearly to crush it; but with the 
growth of wealth and the freedom of religious opinion, the spirit of 
the nation had recovered its vigour. Charles was suspected, on 
account of his marriage with Henrietta, sister to the king of France, 
a bigoted Catholic, and his partiality toward the professors of that 
religion, of a secret design against Protestantism. The Puritans, now 
a numerous party, were bitterly hostile to the church of England ; 
and the persecuting violence and silly superstition of Archbishop Laud 
augmented their rancour. Refused the necessary supplies by the par- 
liament, without giving some security for liberty, the king had recourse 
to all the illegal modes of taxation employed by his predecessors. 
Tonnage and poundage were levied ; all the oppressions of feudalism 
renewed ; for more than ten years no parliament assembled. An 
attempt being made to force Episcopacy upon the Scots, (a. d. 1638,) 
that nation took arms, and entered into the solemn league and 
COVENANT. A dreadful rebellion broke out in Ireland, (a. d. 1641,) 



888 



ENGLAND. 




in which thousands of Protestants were barbarously massacred by the 
Catholics. The Long Parliament, ■which the king had assembled, 
advanced every day in their demands on him, and testified a spirit of 
determined hostility to the church. The impeachment, and illegal 
and unjust, though ■\vell-merited condemnation of Strafford, the king's 
ablest and most obnoxious minister, showed him the spirit by "which 
they -were actuated. Charles, though reluctantly, still yielded to their 
demands ; but concession only produced further assumption. An in- 
vincible distrust of the king's sincerity, for -which, indeed, there was 
abundant reason, haunted the minds of the parliament, and prevented 
all accommodation. Both parties finally determined on the appeal to 
the sword, (a. d. 1642.) 

The king was supported by a large proportion of the ancient no- 
bility and gentry of the realm, many of Avhom had at first been zealous 
in checking the royal excesses ; but now, seeing the exorbitant de- 
mands of the commons, resolved to sustain the throne. The Cathohcs 
were naturally unanimous in his favour ; the western counties were in 



ENGLAND. 



(M\W\ \\Vv 




889 



StrafTord. 



general well affected to him. The chief strength of the parliament 
lay in the cities and great towns and the eastern counties, and the 
lower orders were mostly on their side. It is idle to seek to extenu- 
ate the faults on either side ; to represent the one party as the cham- 
pions of right and justice, the other as the inveterate foes of both. 
Each had much, indeed, to answer for. It was a struggle the probable 
termination of which would be tyranny or anarchy ; yet the king ap- 
pears to have had no alternative left him but civil war. 

On the 25th of August, 1641, the king erected his standard at Not- 
tingham, and soon found himself at the head of an army of ten thou- 
sand men. The parliament had superior forces and a better supply 
of arms ; but both parties were very ignorant of the art of war. The 
king commanded his own army in person, and the parliamentary forces 
were put under the charge of the Earl of Essex. 

The first battle took place October 23, at Edgehill, in AYarwick- 
shire, where the king had rather the advantage, though at the expense 
of a great number of men. He gained some further triumphs before 
the end of the campaign, but still could not muster so large an army 
as the parliament. During the winter, the parties opened a negotia- 
tion at Oxford ; but the demands of the parliament being still deemed 
too great by the king, it came to no successful issue. 

Early in the ensuing season, the king gained some considerable 
advantages ; he defeated a parliamentary army under Sir William 
Waller at Stratton, and soon after took the city of Bristol. It only 



890 



ENGLAND. 




Battle of Edgehill. 



remained for him to take Gloucester, in order to confine the insurrec- 
tion entirely to the eastern provinces. It was even thought at this 
time that he might have easily obtained possession of London, and 
thereby put an end to the war. Instead of making such an attempt, 
he caused siege to be laid to Gloucester, which the army of Essex 
relieved, when it was just on the point of capitulating. As the par- 
liamentary army was returning to London, it was attacked by the royal 
forces at Newbury, and all but defeated. Another royal army in the 
north, under the marquis of Newcastle, gained some advantages ; and, 
upon the Avhole, at the close of the campaign of 1643, the parliament- 
ary cause was not in a flourishing condition. 

In this war, there was hardly any respectable military quality ex- 
hibited besides courage. The royalists used to rush upon the enemy 
opposed to them, without any other design than to cut down as many 
as possible, and, when any part of the army was successful, it never 
returned to the field while a single enemy remained to be pursued ; 
the consequence of which was, that one wing was sometimes victorious, 
while the remainder was completely beaten. The parliamentary troops, 



ENGLAND. 



891 




Oliver Croraweil. 

thoiigli animated by an enthusiastic feeling of religion, were somewhat 
steadier, but nevertheless had no extensive or combined plan of mili- 
tary operations. The first appearance of a superior kind of discipline 
was exhibited in a regiment of horse commanded by Oliver Cromwell, 
a gentleman of small fortune, who had been a brewer, but was destined, 
by great talent, hypocrisy, and address, joined to an unrelenting dis- 
position, to rise to supreme authority. Cromwell, though himself in- 
experienced in military affairs, showed, from the very first, a power 
of drilling and managing troops which no other man in either army 
seemed to possess. Hence his regiment soon became famous for its 
exploits. 

The royal successes of 1643 distressed alike the English parliament 
and the Scottish nation, who now began to fear the loss of all the 
political meliorations they had wrested from the king. The two par- 
liaments therefore entered, in July, into a Solemn League and Cove- 
nant, for prosecuting the war in concert, with the view of ultimately 
settling both church and state in a manner consistent with the liberties 
of the people. In terms of this bond, the Scots raised an army of 
twenty-one thousand men, who entered England in January, 1644, 
and, on the 1st of July, in company with a large body of English 
forces, overthrew the king's northern army on Long Marston Moor. 

The defeat at Long Marston was severely felt by the king. He 



892 



ENGLAND. 




Costume of a Puritan, (time of Charles I.) 



gained a victory over Waller at Copedry Bridge, and caused Essex's 
army to capitulate in Cornwall, (September 1 ;) but in consequence 
of a second fight at Newbury, (October 27,) in which he suffered a 
defeat, he was left at the end of the campaign with greatly diminished 
resources. A new negotiation was commenced at Uxbridge ; but the 
terms ashed by the parliament were so exorbitant as to show no sin- 
cere desire of ending the war. In truth, though the Presbyterian 
party were perhaps anxious for peace, there Avas another party, now 
fast rising into importance, who had no such wishes. These were the 
Independents, a body of men who wished to see a republic established 
in the state, and all formalities whatever removed from the national 
religion. Among the leaders of the party was Cromw^ell, whose mind 
seems to have already become inspired with lofty view^s of personal 
aggrandizement. This extraordinary man had suScient address to 
carry a famous act called the Self-denying Ordinance, which ostensibly 
aimed at depriving all members of the legislature of commands in the 
army, but had the effect only of displacing a few noblemen who were 
obnoxious to his designs. He also carried an act for modelling the 
army anew, in which process he took care that all who might be ex- 
pected to oppose his views should be excluded. It was this party, 



ENGLAND. 



893 




Costume of a Cavalier, (time of Charles I.) 

more particularly, that prevented any accommodation taking place 
between tlie king and his subjects. 

The English campaign of 1645 ended in the complete overthrow of 
the king. Throughout the war, his enemies had been continually 
improving in discipline, in conduct, and in that enthusiasm which ani- 
mated them so largely, Avhile the royalists had become, out of a mere 
principle of opposition, so extremely licentious as to be rather a terror 
to their friends than to their enemies. The new-modelling of the 
parliamentary army, which took place early in 1645, had also added 
much to the effectiveness of the troops, who were now nominally com- 
manded by Sir Thomas Fairfax, but in reality by Oliver Cromwell, 
who bore the rank of lieutenant-general. The consequence was, that, 
in a pitched battle at Naseby, (June 14,) the king was so completely 
beaten that he and his party could no longer keep the field. He had 
no resource but to retire into Oxford, a town zealously affected to his 
cause, and well fortified. 

He subsequently threw himself into the hands of the Scotch leaders, 
who delivered him up to the parliament for a sum of money. After 
being kept for some time in confinement, he was brought to trial by 



894 



ENGLAND. 




Lc-LiLli of Charlos I. 



the parliament, condemned and beheaded. His death took place on 
the 30th of January, 1G49. 

Though the execution of the king produced a considerable reaction 
in favour of royalty, the small remaining part of the House of Com- 
mons, "which got the ridiculous nickname of the Rump, noAV established 
a republic, under the title of the Commonwealth, the executive being 
trusted, under great limitations, to a council of forty-one members, 
while in reality Cromwell possessed the chief influence. The House 
of Peers was voted a grievance, and abolished, and the peoj)le were 
declared to be the legitimate source of all power. Soon after the 
king's death, the duke of Hamilton and a few other of his chief 
adherents were executed. 

During the progress of the civil war, Ireland had been the scene of 
almost ceaseless contention among the various parties of the king, the 
English House of Commons, and the Catholics, none of which could 
eifectually suppress the rest. The most remarkable event was a 
secret agreement which Charles made, in 1(346, with the earl of 
Glamorgan, to establish the Catholic religion in Ireland, on condition 
that its partisans should assist him in putting dovrn his enemies in 
England and Scotland ; a transaction which ultimately injured his 
reputation, without leading to any solid advantage. At the time of 



ENGLAND. 



895 




Landing of Charles II. in Scotland. 

his execution, the royalists were in considerable strength under the 
duke of Ormond, while Hugh O'Neill was at the head of a large 
party of Catholics, who were not indisposed to join the other party, 
provided they could be assured of the establishment of their religion. 
While the two parties in union could have easily rescued the country 
from the English connection, Cromwell landed (August, 1649) with 
twelve thousand horse and foot, and, in a series of victories over the 
scattered forces of his various opponents, succeeded without any great 
difficulty in asserting the sway of the commonwealth. One of his 
most important actions was the capture of Drogheda, where he put 
the garrison and a number of Catholic priests to the sword, in order 
to strike terror into the nation. 

The people of Scotland, who had had scarcely any other object in 
the civil war than the establishment of their favourite form of worship, 
and were sincere friends to a limited monarchy, heard of the death of 
the king with the greatest indignation, and immediately proclaimed 
his eldest son Charles. Early in 1650, the young monarch, who had 
taken refuge in Holland, sent Montrose with a small force to attempt 
a Cavalier insurrection in Scotland ; but this nobleman being taken 
and put to death, Charles found it necessary to accede to the views of 
the Scots respecting the Presbyterian religion, and he was accordingly 
brought over and put at the head of a considerable army, though under 
great restrictions. Cromwell, who had now nearly completed the con- 
quest of Ireland, lost no time in returning to London, and organizing 
an army for the suppression of this new attempt against the common- 
wealth. 

On the 19th of July he crossed the Tweed, and advanced through 
a deserted country to Edinburgh, where the Scottish army lay in a 



896 



ENGLAND. 




Charles II. in fhe woods at Boscobel. 



fortified camp. Sickness in his army and the want of provisions soon 
after compelled him to retreat ; and the Scottish army, following upon 
his rear, brought him into a straitened position near Dunbar, where 
he would soon have been under the necessity of surrendering. In the 
midst of his perplexities, (September 3,) he beheld the Scots advancing 
from the neighbouring heights to give him battle, and in a transport 
of joy, exclaimed, " The Lord hath delivered them into our hands !" 
The movement was solely the result of interference on the part of the 
clergy who followed the Scottish camp ; the better sense of General 
Leslie would have waited for the voluntary surrender of his enemy. 
In the fight which ensued, the veteran troops of Cromwell soon proved 
victorious. The Scots fled in a panic, and were cut doAvn in thousands 
by their pursuers. This gained for Cromwell the possession of the 
capital and of all the southeast provinces ; but the Covenanters still 
made a strong appearance at Stirling. 

Cromwell spent a whole year in the country, vainly endeavouring 
to bring on another action. During the interval, (January 1, 1651,) 
the Scots crowned the young king at Scone, part of the ceremony 



ENGLAND. 



897 




Admiral De Ruyter. 

consisting in his acceptance of the Solemn League and Covenant. 
In tlie ensuing summer, Cromwell at length contrived to outflank the 
position of the Scottish army ; but the result was, that Charles led his 
troops into England without opposition, and made a very threatening 
advance upon the capital. Ere the royalists had time to rally around 
him, Cromwell overtook the king at AYorcester, where, after a stoutly 
contested fight (September 3, 1G51,) he proved completely victorious. 
Charles, after many narrow escapes, including his hiding in the 
wood at Boscobel, with great difficulty, escaped abroad, and Scotland, 
no longer possessed of a military force to defend itself, submitted to 
the conqueror. All the courts of the Scottish church were suppressed, 
and the ministers were left no privilege but that of preaching to their 
flocks. The country was kept in check by a small army under Gene- 
ral Monk, and in a short time was declared by proclamation to be 
united with England. Thus was the Independent party, or rather 
Cromwell, left without a single armed enemy. All the efi'orts of the 
people during twelve years to obtain limitations upon the monarchy 
had ended in a military despotism. 

After the country and its dependencies had been thoroughly settled 
under the new government, the republican leaders resolved upon com- 
mencing hostilities against Holland, which, during the civil war, had 
manifested a decided leaning towards the king, and had recently 
treated the triumphant party with marked disrespect. In the sum- 
mer of 1652, the Dutch fleet, under its famous commanders, Van 
Tromp, De Ruyter, and De Witt, had several encounters with the 

57 



898 



ENGLAND. 




Crorawell dismissing the Parliament. 



English ships, under Admirals Blake and Ayscue, without any decided 
success on either side. But in the ensuing spring, an action was 
fought between Blake and Van Tromp, in which the latter lost eleven 
ships. The Dutch then sued for peace, which the Rump Parliament, 
for various reasons, were little inclined to grant. Their principal 
motive for prosecuting the war was a conviction that it tended to 
restrict the power of Cromwell, to whom they now paid by no means 
a willing obedience. CroniAvell, perceiving their design, proceeded 
with three hundred soldiers to the house, (April, 1G53,) and entering 
with marks of the most violent indignation, loaded the members with 
reproaches for their robbery and oppression of the public ; then stamp- 
ing with his foot, he gave signal for the soldiers to enter, and, address- 
ing himself to the members, "For shame !" said he ; " get you gone ! 
give place to honcster men ! I tell you you are no longer a parlia- 
ment; the Lord hath done with you!" He then commanded "that 
bauble," meaning the mace, to be taken away, turned out the mem- 
bers, and, locking the door, returned to Whitehall with the key in his 
pocket. 

Being still willing to keep up the appearance of a representative 
government, Cromwell summoned one hundred and forty-four persons 
in England, Ireland, and Scotland, to assemble as a parliament. These 
individuals, chiefly remarkable for fanaticism and ignorance, were 
denominated the Barehoncs Parliament, from the name of one of the 



ENGLAND. 



899 




Crom-T^ell refusing tlie crown. 



members, a leather-seller, Avliose assumed name, by a ridiculous usage 
of the age, was Praise-God Barebones. As the assembly obtained no 
public respect, Cromwell took an early opportunity of dismissing it. 
His officers then constituted him Protector of the Commonwealth of 
Great Britain and Ireland, with most of the prerogatives of the late 
king. At one time he was formally offered the crown, but thought it 
politic to refuse it. 

The war against Holland was still carried on with great spirit. In 
the summer of 1653, two naval actions, in which both parties fought 
with the utmost bravery, terminated in the triumph of the English 
and the complete humiliation of the Dutch, who obtained peace on the 
condition of paying homage to the English flag, expelling the young 
king from their dominions, and paying a compensation for certain 
losses to the East India Company. In a war which he subsequently 
made against Spain, the fleets of the protector performed some exploits 
of not less importance. The respect which he thus gained for the 
English name throughout Europe is one of the brightest points in his 
singular history. But while generally successful abroad, he experienced 
unceasing difiiculties in the management of affairs at home. Of the 
various parliaments which he summoned, no one was found so carefully 
composed of his own creatures as to yield readily to his will : he was 
obliged to dissolve them all in succession, after a short trial. He also 
experienced great difficulty in raising money, and sometimes applied 



900 



ENGLAND. 




General Mon'k. 



for loans in tlie city witliout success. His own officers could scarcely 
be kept in subordination, but were constantly plotting a reduction of 
his authority. The royalists, on the other h>and, never ceased to con- 
spire for his destruction ; one, named Colonel Titus, went so far as to 
recommend his assassination in a pamphlet entitled " Killing no Mur- 
der," after reading which he was never seen again to smile. 

The last parliament called by Cromwell was in January, 1656 ; 
when, besides the commons, he summoned the few remaining peers, 
and endeavoured by ennobling some of his officers, to make up a kind 
of upper house. This assembly proved as intractable as its prede- 
cessors, and he contracted such a disgust at the very nature of a 
representative legislature, as to resolve, like Charles I., never to call 
another. His health finally sank under the effects of his ill-gotten 
power, and he died on the 3d September, 1658, a day which was 
thought to be propitious to him, as it was the anniversary of several 
of his victories. His eldest son Richard, a weak young man, succeeded 
him as protector, and was at first treated with all imaginable respect ; 
but he could not long maintain a rule which even his father had ulti- 
mately failed in asserting. He quietly slunk out of public view, leav- 
ing the supreme authority in the hands of the Rump, which had taken 
the opportunity to reassemble. 

This remnant of an old parliament continued in power till the 
autumn of 1659, when it gave way to a council of the officers who had 
been in command under Cromwell. The latter government, in its 
turn, yielded to the Rump, which sat down once more in December. 



ENGLAND. 



901 




Charles II. entering London. 



The people, finding themselves made the sport of a few ambitious 
adventurers, began to long for some more fixed and respectable kind 
of government. At this crisis, General Monk, commander of the 
forces in Scotland, conceived the design of settling the nation. He 
left Scotland (January 2, 1660) with a considerable army ; and 
though he kept his thoughts scrupulously to himself, all men bent 
their eyes upon him, as a person destined to realize their hopes. He 
reached London, (February 3,) and was received Avith feigned respect 
by the Rump. Some resistance was attempted by Lambert, one of 
Cromwell's ofiicers, but in vain. Ere long, Monk was able to procure 
the restoration of the members who had been excluded from parliament 
by Cromwell, who, being a majority, gave an immediate ascendency 
to anti-republican views. As soon as this was effected, an act was 
passed for calling a new and freely-elected parliament ; after which, 
the existing assembly immediately dissolved itself. 

The new parliament proved to be chiefly composed of Cavaliers and 
Presbyterians, men agreeing in their attachment to monarchy, though 
differing in many other views. After some cautious procedure, in 
which the fears inspired by the late military tyranny were conspicu- 
ous, they agreed to invite the king from his retirement in Holland, and 
to restore him to the throne lost by his father. They were so glad to 
escape from the existing disorders, that they never thought of making 
any preliminary arrangement with the king as to the extent of his pre- 
rogative. On the 29th of May, being his thirtieth birthday, Charles 
IL entered London amid such frantic demonstrations of joy, that he 



902 



ENGLAND. 




Costume of the Court in the time of Charles II. 



could not help thinking it his own fault, as he said, that he had been 
so long separated from his people. 

One of the first measures of the new monarch was the passing of a 
bill of indemnity, by which all persons concerned in the late popular 
movements were pardoned, excepting a few who had been prominently 
concerned in bringing the king to the block. Harrison, Scrope, and 
a few other regicides, were tried and executed ; and the bodies of 
Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw were raised from the grave and 
exhibited upon gibbets. In Scotland only three persons suffered — 
the Marquis of Argyle, Johnston of Warriston, and Mr. Guthry, a 
clergyman : it was considered remarkable, that the marquis had placed 
the crown upon the king's head at Scone in the year 1651. Except- 
ing in these acts, the king showed no desire of revenging the death of 
his father, or his own exclusion from the throne. 

In the summer of 1G65, London was visited by a plague, which 
swept off about one hundred thousand people, and did not experience 
any abatement till the approach of cold weather. On this occasion 
the city presented a wide and heart-rending scene of misery and deso- 
lation. Rows of houses stood tenantless, and open to the winds ; the 



ENGLAND. 



903 




Great Fire of London. 

chief thoroughfares were overgrown with grass. The few individuals 
who ventured abroad walked in the middle of the streets, and when they 
met, declined on opposite sides, to avoid the contact of each other. 
At one moment were heard the ravings of delirium, or the wail of 
sorrow, from the infected dwelling ; at another, the merry song or 
careless laugh from the tavern, where men were seeking to drown in 
debauchery all sense of their awful situation. Since 1665, the plague 
has not again occurred in London, or in any other part of the kingdom. 

The second calamity was a conflagration, which commenced on the 
night of Sunday, the 2d of September, 1666, in the eastern and more 
crowded part of the city. The direction and violence of the wind, 
the combustible nature of the houses, and the defective arrangements 
of that age for extinguishing fires, combined to favour the progress 
of the flames, which raged during the whole of the week, and burnt 
all that part of the city which lies between the Tower and the Temple. 

By this calamity, thirteen thousand two hundred houses and eighty- 
nine churches, covering in all four hundred and thirty acres of ground, 
were destroyed. The flame at one time formed a column a mile in 
diameter, and seemed to mingle with the clouds. It rendered the 
night as clear as day for ten miles around the city, and is said to have 
produced an efi'ect upon the sky which was observed on the borders of 
Scotland. It had one good effect, in causing the streets to be formed 
much wider than before, by which the city was f endered more healthy. 
By the populace, this fire was believed to have been the work of the 



904 ENGLAND. 



Catholics, and a tall pillar, Tvith an inscription to that effect, M'as 
reared in the city, as a monument of the calamity. This pillar 
"with its inscription still exists ; but the fire is now believed to have 
been occasioned purely by accident. 

After having been an absolute sovereign for nearly four years, 
Charles II. died February 6, 1685, professing himself at the last to 
be a Catholic, and was succeeded by the duke of'York, under the title 
of James II. Charles's first prime minister, the earl of Clarendon, 
wrote a history of the civil wars, which has been greatly admired for 
its style ; but it, of course, favours the royal party, to which he 
belonged. 

Charles II. was a prince of a gay and cheerful disposition, and so 
noted a sayer of witty things, and so addicted to humorous amuse- 
ments, that he was called the " merry monarch." His wit, shrewd- 
ness, and good-humour form the best side of his character. On the 
other side, we find a deficiency of almost every active virtue and of 
all steady principle. He never allowed any duty of his station, or 
any claim upon his justice or clemency, to interfere Avith his own in- 
terests, or even to disturb him in his indolent and vicious pleasures. 
Neglecting his wife, who never had any children, he spent most of 
his time with his various mistresses, who openly lived at court, and 
were even received by the queen. Of these ladies, the most remarka- 
ble were Louisa Querouaile, whom he created duchess of Portsmouth, 
and Barbara Villiers, whom he made duchess of Cleveland. Six sons 
of the king by his mistresses were made dukes, and five of these were 
the progenitors of families in the English nobility. 

During the reign of Charles II., the nation advanced considerably 
in the arts of navigation and commerce ; and the manufactures of 
brass, glass, silk, hats, and paper were established. The post-office, 
set up during the commonwealth as a means of raising money, was 
advanced in this reign, and the penny post was now begun in London 
by a private person. Roads were greatly improved, and stage-coach 
travelling was commenced, though not carried to any great extent. 
During this reign, tea, coffee, and chocolate, which have had a great 
effect in improving and softening manners, were first introduced. In 
1660, the Royal Society was established in London, for the cultiva- 
tion of natural science, mathematics, and all useful knowledge. The 
science of astronomy was greatly advanced by the investigations of 
Flamstead and Halley. But the greatest contribution to science was 
made by Sir Isaac Newton, whose Principles of Natural Philosophy 
were published in 1683 : in this work, the true theory of planetary 
motions was first explained, in reference to the principle of gravitation. 



ENGLAND. 



905 




Among the literary men of the period, the first place is to be as- 
signed to John Milton, author of the Paradise Lost and other poems : 
Samuel Butler shines as a humorous and satirical poet, and Edmund 
Waller as a lyrist. Among divines, the highest names connected 
■with the church are those of Jeremy Taylor and Isaac Barrow; while 
the highest among the nonconformists are those of Richard Baxter 
and John Bunyan. The theatre, which had been suppressed during 
the commonwealth, was revived in this reign ; but the drama exhibited 
less talent and more licentiousness than it did in the previous reigns. 
Female characters, which had formerly been acted by men, were now 
for the first time performed by females. 

Among the worst acts of Charles II. was his breaking a promise 
made at his restoration to the House of Commons, that he would spare 
the life of Sir Henry Vane, if he should be brought to trial for the 
part he had taken in the late revolution. As Sir Henry was once 
a governor of Massachusetts, all that relates to him is interesting to 



906 



ENGLAND. 




John Bunyan. 



Americans, and we therefore quote the account of this atrocious trans- 
action from a British historian.* 

The House of Commons demanded the trial, or rather the execution, 
of Lamhert and Vane, state prisoners since the Restoration. It is 
necessary to repeat here, that they were excepted from the act of ob- 
livion, that both houses at the same time petitioned the king for their 
lives, and that the king promised his compliance. The new parliament 
disdained the moderation of the convention, and clamoured for their 
blood. They were accordingly brought to trial in a few days after 
the prorogation. Neither had sat in judgment upon Charles I. : their 
crime was their having served the usurpation — now the style and title 
of the commonwealth. Lambert, a brave soldier, but a weak man, con- 
fessed himself guilty, made abject supplication for the royal clemency, 
and was suffered to reach the end of his natural life in the island of 
Guernsey, either wholly unthought of or remembered only to be despised. 

Vane had the reputation of wanting personal firmness. He defended 
himself on his trial with undaunted resolution, and never gave more 
shining proof of the elevation of his talents and his principles. The 

* Continuation of Mackiutosli's England, vol. xvii. p. 18. 



ENGLAND. 



907 




Execution of Sir Henry Vane 



indictment charged him ■with treason against the person and govern- 
ment of Charles II. ; and the overt acts to sustain it were his official 
acts, as a public servant of the commonwealth. His defence was, first, 
that he acted under the authority of the parliament, then the supreme, 
sole, and established governing power of England ; next, that the 
authority of the parliament v/as legal and supreme, and the cause 
which it vindicated just and sacred before God and man. The judges 
decided that Charles II. was king of England de facto as well as de 
jure, while he lived a wandering exile, repudiated even by foreign 
courts ; and the pretence of this revolting iniquity was, that there 
was then no person in England assuming the style and title of king. 
The verdict of guilty against Vane was, under the circumstances, a 
matter of course. He offered a fruitless bill of exceptions, founded 
on the king's pledged faith to the late parliament. Charles broke 
his faith, and thereby left one of the darkest stains upon his personal 
character. 

On the 14th of June, Sir Henry Vane was led on foot to the scaf- 
fold at Tower Hill. There are preserved minute particulars of his 
demeanour and treatment. He was clad in a black suit and mantle, 
with a scarlet waistcoat showing itself at the breast, his head uncovered, 
his eye bright, his colour unchanged. It was remarked that he showed 
the solemn calmness of a mere spectator of the scene. He proceeded to 
address the people from written notes, but was soon interrupted and 
reviled by the lieutenant of the Tower. The sheriff snatched his notes 



908 ENGLAND. 



from liis hand, ^vliile the lieutenant ransacked his pockets for papers, 
and trumpets were sounded to drown his voice. He appealed from 
men to heaven, and submitted to his fate. His last words, as he knelt 
before the scaffold, were, " Father, glorify thy servant in the sight of 
men, that he may glorify thee in the discharge of his duty to thee and 
to his country." 

The death of Vane has been ascribed to his having produced the 
minute of council in evidence against Strafford; and Echard, in his per- 
fidious compilation, ventures to declare the death of Vane on the same 
spot where Strafford died, a judgment of God. But Charles had not 
virtue enough to inherit either the remorse or vengeance of his father, 
for the sacrifice of that famous minister ; and his own letter to Cla- 
rendon shows that he broke his faith from fear and hatred of the virtue 
and intrepidity with which Vane defended his life and vindicated his 
principles on his trial. 

The king and his chief minister came to the determination of "put- 
ting out of the way " a man in whom the genius of the commonwealth 
survived. Vane belongs in a particular manner to that epoch. It has 
been remarked, as anomalous and extraordinary, that a diplomatist, 
an administrator, and statesman, of versatile accomplishments and 
superior genius, should indulge in the wildest mysticism as a reli- 
gionist : but the simple and obvious truth is, that he was more than 
ordinarily imbued with the spirit of his age. With the visionary fer- 
vour of his religion he combined the first principles to which he would 
have been led by the light of reason and philosophy — that of religious 
toleration. In this, however, he but shared a virtue of the Independ- 
ents. All sects are ready to preach toleration when they are the 
party oppressed. The Independents alone have passed that sure ordeal 
of principle, the possession of power. The liberty of conscience, which 
they asked when they were weak, they gave when they became strong. 

We should add to this account, that the people of England were so 
outraged at the injustice of Vane's trial and condemnation as to occa- 
sion serious alarm to the court party, who were fain to make their 
peace by restoring to his family the titles and estates, which they have 
ever since enjoyed. The late head of the family, the duke of Cleve- 
land, was true to the principles of his illustrious ancestor ; and although 
elevated to the rank of the highest aristocracy, was an earnest advo- 
cate for popular rights. 

The duke of York, as James II., did not begin his reign without 
applause. His speech in the privy council was expressive of wise and 
moderate principles of government. After bestowing some eulogiums 
on the clemency of his brother, and saying that he should take him for 



ENGLAND. 



909 




James IT. 



his model, "I have been represented," said he, "as infatuated with 
principles of arbitrary power, but I will endeavour to maintain the 
government, both in church and state, as it is by law established. 
The church of England is favourable to monarchy, and I shall apply 
myself to support and defend it. The laws of England make me as 
powerful a prince as I can wish to be, and my object is to preserve 
the prerogatives of the crown, without invading the privileges of my 
subjects," &c. 

This speech, though it seemed to express his sentiments, did not 
correspond with his future conduct. He received respectful addresses 
from all parts. That of the Quakers is a monument of the singularity 
of their sect. " We are come to signify our affliction for the death of 
our good friend Charles, and our joy to see thee made ruler of the 
people. They tell us that thou art not of the church of England any 
more than we, so we hope thou wilt allow us the same liberty that 
thou takest thyself, and if thou dost, we wish thee all manner of 



910 



ENGLAND. 




William Penn. 



prosperity." James favoured the Quakers throughout his reign, and 
was particularly friendly to William Penn. 

The conduct of James, however, soon occasioned apprehensions both 
for the national liberty and for religion. The excise and customs, 
granted to his predecessors, were levied by his order, as if given by 
parliament. He appeared publicly at mass, contrary to the laws 
established. Priests, particularly Jesuits, became his principal con- 
fidants. Pope Innocent XL, to whom he sent his submission, con- 
demned his imprudent zeal. The Spanish ambassador represented to 
him that so many priests about court might do hurt by their counsels. 
James, asking him if the king of Spain did not consult his confessor, 
"Yes," replied the Spaniard, "and that is the reason why things go 
so ill with us." There is no doubt that James's desire of absolute 
power, and of changing the national religion, led him to the precipice 
from which he fell. The council, indeed, was composed of Protestants, 
but the queen, Maria Eleonora of Este, and some Catholic priests, 
were more listened to than the council. 

It became necessary, at the beginning of the reign, to call a parlia- 
ment. For some years past, the court had got a great ascendency. 
Elections were controlled, and the Commons were almost wholly com- 
posed of tories. The two houses granted the king the fixed revenue 
of his predecessor. 

The duke of Monmouth, the natural son of Charles II., and who 



ENGLAND. 



911 




Submission of tbe Dute of Monmouth.. 



was mucli beloved by the people, attempted to dethrone his uncle, at 
a time when the throne seemed firmly established. He landed with 
three ships on the western coast, with about a hundred men in his 
suite, and published a manifesto, in which, giving the king only the 
title of duke of York, he represented him as a traitor, a tyrant, a 
popish usurper, and invited the nation to take up arms. Monmouth 
was proclaimed in several towns, and was beaten near Bridgewater. 
He was warmly pursued, and found in a ditch, covered with mud, and 
disguised in the habit of a peasant. The fear of punishment brought 
him to make humble submission, but he refused to impeach his parti- 
sans, and died upon the scaffold. James had here a fine opportunity 
to signalize his clemency, but his natural severity prevailed. 

This victory was followed by many barbarous executions. Colonel 
Kirke, a most sanguinary man, carried his cruelty so far as to sport 
with the miseries of those whom he sacrificed. The chief justice, 
Jeffreys, still more insufferably inhuman, filled the counties that had 
taken part in the insurrection with carnage. Father Orleans asserted 
that James expressed his indignation at the severities of Jeffreys ; but 
that is utterly incredible, since Jeffreys was created a peer on his 
return, and raised afterward to the dignity of chancellor. 

The earl of Argyle, previous to Monmouth's rebellion, had attempted 
an invasion in Scotland ; but his countrymen not being disposed to 
support him, his small army dispersed of itself, and he was taken and 
executed. All the acts of parliament that then took place in Scotland 
were against the liberties of the people. It was made death to be pre- 



912 ENGLAND. 



sent at a conventicle, and to refuse taking the test oath, when required 
by the council, was declared high-treason. 

The English parliament was not so tractable. James had declared 
that, in consequence of the Catholics having served him so faithfully, 
he totally dispensed with the tests required by law. The Commons at 
first showed some spirit of resistance, but proceeded no farther. The 
upper house, however, contrary to custom, undertook to examine the 
power which the king assumed, and in which they were encouraged by 
the bishops themselves. The king was irritated, and the parliament 
was prorogued. 

Several fresh imprudences showed James's settled purpose to change 
the national religion, such as the establishment of an ecclesiastical 
court, little different from that of the high commission, already abo- 
lished ; the suspension of the bishop of London by that court for not 
arbitrarily punishing a minister who had preached against popery ; 
the infringement of the privileges of the universities, in causing the 
admission of Catholics ; an open rupture with the church of England ; 
and the penal laws, by declaration, also suspended. Depending on 
his authority, more absolute indeed than that of his predecessors, he 
was not afraid of sending to Rome an ambassador extraordinary, nor 
of receiving at his court a pope's nuncio. Every connection with Rome 
had been declared high-treason by act of parliament, and what was to 
be expected from a measure contrary to the laws ? The pope, Inno- 
cent XI., foresaw the consequence, and disapproved of that intempe- 
rate zeal, which would be pernicious in its effects. "It is strange," 
says Hume, " that James, who knew what influence religious belief 
had on his own heart, should be so blind as not to suspect. that it might 
have the same power over his subjects." 

The declaration of tolerance being renewed, and ordered to be read 
in all the churches, six bishops represented to the king, in a respectful 
petition, that the declaration being founded on a power that the parlia- 
ment had often pronounced illegal, they could not allow it to be read 
publicly. Though these prelates had kept their business as secret as 
possible, they were presently sent to the Tower. The confluence of 
the people on the way, the consternation of the spectators, and the 
respect shown by the soldiers who conducted them, strongly testified 
the sentiments of the public. The counsel for the bishops defended 
their cause with equal freedom and success, and the judges, in dis- 
charging them, gave equal satisfaction. 

On the day of trial, James reviewed his troops on Hounslow Heath, 
and hearing a sudden shout, he inquired what was the occasion. " 'Tis 
nothing," answered a nobleman; "the soldiers are only expressing 



ENGLAND. 913 



their joy for the discharge of the bishops." " Do you call that 
nothing?" replied the king; "but so much the worse for them." 
Two of the judges on this occasion lost their places, and the ministers 
who had not read the declaration were prosecuted. The public dis- 
content increased. Till then, the prince of Orange, in hopes of suc- 
ceeding to the crown, had behaved to the king, his father-in-law, with 
profound policy, giving him every demonstration of respect and attach- 
ment. William, however, was wary of exposing himself to the hatred 
of a people whom he might one day govern. He gave the king to 
understand that, though he approved of the revocation of the penal 
laws, as a friend to toleration, yet he regarded the test oath as a 
necessary means to preserve the established worship. 

After this declaration of his sentiments, the prince began to listen 
to the complaints of the English, nor did he long hesitate to break 
with his father-in-law, whose conduct he could not approve. Several 
of the English had already invited him to their assistance. The 
church of England and the Presbyterians were equally desirous of 
such a protector. At length he prepared for war, without hoping, 
however, that this would place him on the throne. For what purpose 
such armaments were intended was for a long time impenetrable. 
They appeared to be destined against France. Avaux, the French 
king's ambassador at the Hague, at length penetrated into the secret 
and informed his master. Louis communicated the discovery to the 
king of England, and offered him a squadron to join his fleet. James, 
carried away with a blind confidence, rejected his offer : " I am not 
reduced," said he, "to such a condition as to be obliged to seek the 
protection of France." 

The English fleet mutinied because James had ordered mass to be 
said on board. The land forces were no less disposed to revolt, because 
their consent was required to the revocation of the test and the penal 
laws. James rushed forward to his ruin with the security of a man 
who sees no danger. But the illusion vanished when it was too late. 
His ambassador wrote to him from Holland that every thing was ready 
for an invasion. Distressed and terrified with this news, James 
retracted. He restored the friends of the test and penal laws to their 
places ; he caressed the persecuted bishops ; he broke the ecclesiastical 
commission ; he restored the charters of London and the other cities. 
But his indiscretion had rendered the evil incurable. A manifesto 
from the prince of Orange prepared the way for the invasion ; and 
he delayed not to support this declaration with his arms. His fleet, 
amounting to five hundred ships, transported an army of more than 
forty thousand men. He landed at Broxholme, in Torbay, on the 5th 

53 



914 



ENGLAND. 




Laadii: 



Lh.j iricce of Uiange at Torbay. 



of November, 1GS8. For some days the prince had the mortification 
to find himself joined by very few ; but just as he began to despair of 
success, a number of the nobility and English officers joined him, and 
the whole country soon after came flocking to his standard. Churchill, 
afterwards the famous duke of Marlborough, deserted his unfortunate 
master. Prince George of Denmark, his son-in-law, and the princess 
Anne, his favourite daughter, also abandoned him. In this scene of 
distress, he cried, " Great God, have pity on me ! my own children 
have forsaken their father." 

Distrusting his army, and fearful of throv.ing himself upon the par- 
liament, James, though a prince of approved valour and firmness, lost 
all courage, and abandoned his throne without ever attempting to 
defend it. He was seized in his flight, returned to London, and de- 
manded a conference with the prince of Orange. William ordered 
him to remove to Rochester castle, which is at no great distance from 
the sea, in hopes that this dangerous prisoner would rescue himself 
by flight. The dethroned monarch fled to France, where Louis XIV. 
received him Avith more than royal generosity. 

The literature of the reign of James 11. was strongly tinctured 
with French influence, especially in the department of the drama, 
which was highly immoral. Dryden was the best poet of that era, 
and Shaftesbury, Ilobbes, and South were among the most distin- 



ENGLAND. 



915 




Harvey. 

guislied prose writers. In medical science, Harvey, who discovered 
the true theory of the circulation of the blood, and Sydenham, the 
leading physician of the reign, were most remarkable. A host of 
other names of inferior note might be mentioned, whose compositions 
served to usher in the more brilliant era of Queen Anne. 





William III. 



ENGLAND, FROM WILLIAM III. TO THE PRESENT 

TIME. 




)ILLIAM of Nassau was in 
the thirtj-ninth year of his 
age when the voice of the 
people of England called 
him to the throne. He was 
distinguished for activity, firmness, and 
military skill. After a long debate, the 
parliament decided that the prince and 
princess of Orange should be made king 
and queen of England, and that the ad- 
ministration of the government should be 
placed in the hands of the prince only. The two houses at the same 
time made a declaration called the Bill of Eights, by which the pre- 
rogatives were limited and defined,* and the liberty of the subject 
secured. The Scots, soon after these events, declared the crown of 
Scotland vacant, and offered it to William and Mary. Lord Dundee 
collected a small body of Highlanders to uphold the cause of the 

Stuarts. He defeated a large body of William's troops at the pass 
916 




ENGLAND. 917 




Battle of Aghrim. 

of Killicrankie, but was mortally wounded in tlie action, and after his 
death the Highlanders submitted to William. In the mean time 
James had landed in Ireland, and made a triumphal entry into Dub- 
lin. The duke of Schomberg, William's favourite general, was unsuc- 
cessfulin his operations against James, and William crossed to Ireland 
to conduct the war in person. The decisive action, in which the forces 
were nearly equal, was fought at the river Boyne, not far from Slane 
Bridge. William was triumphant, and James fled to France, where 
he passed the remainder of his life. On the 12th of July, 1691, 
General Ginkel, with twenty thousand men, defeated St. Ruth, with 
twenty-eight thousand men, at Aghrim, and the Stuart party was com- 
pletely crushed. The Scots were discontented, on account of William's 
striving to introduce episcopacy among them, and the massacre of forty 
Highlanders at Glencoe, for not taking the oath of allegiance at the 
appointed time. William now engaged in a war against France. 
(1691.) Marlborough nobly upheld the honour of the English arms 
upon the continent, and gained many victories. Peace was restored 
in 1697, by the treaty of Ryswick. William died on the 8th of 
March, 1702, in consequence of being thrown from his horse. James 
had died a few months before, in France. 

The succession devolved on the Princess Anne, by the enactment of 
parliament. She was thirty-nine years of age when she came to the 
throne ; and had a mild temper, with good natural capacity. The 
political strife between the Whigs and Tories was very warm during 
the whole of this reign. The chief point of difference was upon the 
subject of the succession of the crown, in case Anne should die without 
children. Anne resolved to pursue the same continental policy as 
William had pursued, the objects of which were the humbling of the 



918 



ENGLAND. 




Queeu Anne. 



arrogant Louis XIV. of France, and the placing of the son of the em- 
peror of Austria on the Spanish throne. The great duke of Marl- 
borough was sent to conduct the war, and was made generalissimo of 
the allied forces. Ilis achievements were rapid and glorious, and the 
French could furnish no general to withstand him. A fleet, com- 
manded by Sir George Rooke, now sailed into the Mediterranean, and 
after an unsuccessful attempt on Barcelona, attacked and took the 
strong fortress of Gibraltar, which has ever since remained in the hands 
of England. 

In 1705, a fleet, under Sir Cloudesley Shovel, having on board five 
thousand soldiers, commanded by the earl of Peterborough, sailed for 
Spain, to assist the cause of the archduke of Austria. Barcelona was 
forced to surrender, chiefly through the extraordinary skill and vigour 
with which the earl of Peterborough pressed the siege. At the head 
of a small force, this able general nearly gained Spain for the arch- 
duke, and had driven Philip V. from the country ; but in the heat of 
victory he was recalled, and the earl of Galway, who succeeded him 
in the command, was defeated. After this, the cause of the archduke 



ENGLAND. 



919 










LuLe of i laT 11 ui u .n 



■was dropped by the English. In the mean time, Marlborough gained 
many victories, of which the most noted -were those of Blenheim, 
Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. The war was carried on 
until 1712. In January of that year, a treaty for a general peace 
was opened at Utrecht ; but the negotiations were not concluded until 
April, 1713. England gained Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay, and the 
island of St. Christopher, and Louis promised to abandon the cause of 
the Pretender, son of James II. Soon after this treaty, the union of 
England and Scotland was completed, to mutual advantage. Anne 
died on the 1st of August, in the fifty-first year of her age. Although 
she had nine children, none of them survived ; and George, elector of 
Hanover, became the heir of the English throne. 




Gibraltar. 



920 



ENGLAND. 




Siege of Barcelona. 

During the reign of Anne, many men of brilliant genius flourished. 
Locke, the philosopher, died two years after her accession. Pope, 
Steele, and Addison, during her reign, won great reputation as poets 
and essayists. Jonathan Swift, dean of St. Patrick's, distinguished 
himself as a satirical author ; and Sir Isaac Newton, the discoverer 
of the law of gravitation and other important philosophical truths, 
towered above his contemporaries in force of genius. 

George, elector of Hanover, was in his fifty-fifth year when he was 
proclaimed king of Great Britain. He was a decided whig, and 
treated his opponents with severity. The duke of Ormond and Lord 
Bolingbroke, tory leaders, were impeached, but escaped to France, 
They were then attainted, and their names erased from the list of 




Pope. 



ENGLAND. 



921 




George L refusing to pardon the reloel Earls. 

English peers. Lord Oxford was sent to the Tower, where he remained 
two years, but he was at length acquitted without a trial. These 
severities excited murmurs throughout the kingdom, and in Scotland, 
the earl of Mar proclaimed Prince James Stuart, (September 6, 1715.) 
But the Pretender did not receive the promised aid from France, and 
when he arrived in Scotland, his forces were so small that the duke 
of Argyle compelled him to abandon the enterprise. The rebels in 
the north of England were easily subdued ; some were hanged, and 
many sent to America. King George was deaf to all intercession on 
behalf of the rebel leaders. 




Bishop Berieley. 



922 ENGLAND. 



Among the distinguished philosophers and literary characters of this 
reign, Bishop Berkeley ranked high for his theory of ideas, M'hich still 
engages the attention of those metaphysically disposed. 

George I. died June 11, 1727, while proceeding to Osnaburg, in 
Hanover. 

The news of the sudden death of the king reached London, June 
14, and his son, George II., ^Yas proclaimed the next day. The 
new king Avas inferior in ability to his fiither, and chiefly remarkable 
for his preference of Hanover to England. lie was in his forty-fifth 
year, and had already tvvo sons and four daughters. Queen Caroline 
united in her person beauty, strong sense, and goodness of heart. In 
1737, the queen died, and the king's grief for her was sincere and ex- 
cessive. In the same year, a war broke out between England and 
Spain, and Admiral Vernon took Portobello, a Spanish settlement on 
the Isthmus of Daricn. 

In the beginning of 1744, an invasion of England had been at- 
tempted by a French force of 15,000 men, under Prince Charles 
Edward. But though this expedition was rendered abortive. Prince 
Charles ventured in the following year to try his fortune in the northern 
part of the island. 

In June, 1745, he embarked with a few Scotch and Irish gentlemen 
in a small frigate ; but the vessel which carried a supply of arms for 
the expedition was disabled in the passnge. Meanwhile the frigate 
pursued her destined course. On the 16th of July, Charles landed at 
Borodale, in Lochaber, and was soon joined by a considerable number 
of Highlanders. 

A moment more favourable for this enterprise could not have been 
chosen. The king of England was in Hanover ; the duke of Cumber- 
land, with the serviceable part of the army, was in Flanders. The 
government was at first inclined to disbelieve the intelligence of these 
proceedings, but was soon forced to provide for its defence. Sir John 
Cope, with what troops he had in Scotland, was ordered to advance 
and suppress the insurrection, while a reward of thirty thousand pounds 
was ofi'ered for the head of the young prince. Through the false move- 
ments of Sir John Cope, Charles Edward was enabled to take posses- 
sion of Perth and Edinburgh, and gain accessions of Lowlanders. On 
the 21st of September, Cope encountered Charles at Prestonpans, and 
was completely defeated. Six Aveeks now elapsed before the victorious 
prince had sufficient force at his command to justify a march into Eng- 
land. At length he advanced to Derby, but Avas obliged by his friends 
to turn back. On the 17th of January, 1745, a battle took place at 
Falkirk, between the young Pretender's forces and the English under 



ENGLAND. 



923 




General Ilawley, each numbering about eight thousand men. ^ Here 
Charles vfas apain victorious, but was unable to follow up his triumph, 
and retired to Inverness to winter. The duke of Cumberland, with 
six thousand Hessians, now reached Scotland, and on the IGth of 
April, 1745, Charles was overthrown at Culloden. He had hnnselt 
the greatest' difficulty in escaping from the country, and the Highlands 
were subjected for several months to the desolating horrors of military 
violence. But this was followed by several government regulations 
calculated to improve the social condition of the Scots and to attach 
them to the existing government. 

During the war in which Britain and other powers were now engaged 
with France, the latter was successful on land, but was constantly 
defeated at sea. In 1T48, the two countries found that their losses 
were equal, and therefore agreed, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, to 
restore their respective conquests and make peace— a smgular con- 
clusion, if the war had been waged for a just purpose. 

A series of encroachments made by France on the British colonies 
in North America, gave birth, a few years afterwards, to a new war 
with that country, which broke out in 1755. This war eventually in- 
volved the whole of Europe, and is usually styled the Seven Years 
War In America, the most important English enterprises failed. 
But "the accession of the energetic William Pitt to the premiership of 
Great Britain breathed new life into the nation. New generals were 
appointed ; and in 1760, the whole of Canada was conquered. 

In the mean time, France attacked and conquered Hanover. Ihe 



924 



ENGLAND. 




Death, of Admiral Bynj 



northern European poAvers, except Prussia and her sagacious Frederick 
the Great, were combined against England. But Frederick, assisted 
by money and troops from England, overthrew the combined forces, 
and by a series of victories established his military reputation. At 
sea, the English flag was triumphant. Such were the expectations of 
the people in regard to naval achievement, that it would have been 
singular if they had not been occasionally disappointed. Minorca 
being hard pressed by the French, Admiral Byng was sent with ten 
ships of the line to relieve it. On arriving at the island, Byng judged 
it impossible to throw succours into the defences, and kept aloof. 
The French fleet appeared, but, as Byng would not come to a general 
action, sailed away. For this course of conduct the English admiral 
was arrested, taken to England, tried, and condemned to be shot, 
which fate he met with fortitude, on board of a man-of-war in the 
harbour of Portsmouth. That his punishment was too severe, his- 
torians are now agreed. 

George II. died October 25, 1760, in the midst of victory, and at 
an advanced age. 

George III. was twenty-two years of age when the death of his 
grandfather placed him on the throne. He had led a retired life, 
which, while it encouraged his domestic virtues, rendered him awkward 
in his first appearance at court. He seems to have possessed the best 
intentions, but little force of mind. In the year after his accession, he 
married Charlotte, princess of Mecklenburg Strelitz. The war was for 
some time continued with vigour, though the nation had become weary 
of the great expense of it. Spain now joined France against England. 



ENGLAND. 



925 




Geor 



It is difficult to select the most important events of this busy time. 
The British arms were everywhere successful. Several valuable islands 
in the West Indies were taken from France. Havana in Cuba, Ma- 
nilla in the East Indies, and the rest of the Philippine Islands, were 
taken from Spain, and many prizes made at sea. At length, a general 
peace was concluded at Paris, on the 10th of February, 1763. By 
this treaty, Minorca, several islands in the West Indies, and Goree, 
in Africa, were restored to France, as well as all their forts and fac- 
tories in the East Indies. Cuba was restored to Spain in exchange 
for the Floridas. 

Early in 1775, the American colonies revolted, and a struggle of 
seven years' duration ensued. An account of this will be found else- 
where in this work. The success of the Americans was due to the 
justice of their cause, their own determination, and the patriotism and 
ability of General George Washington. This war was popular in 
England, but from the outset was opposed by the earl of Chatham 
and other able men in parliament. The earl of Chatham was attacked 
with the illness which resulted in his death while denouncing the war 
and the purpose for which it was waged. France, Spain, and Holland 
united to assist the revolted colonies, and war was declared against 
them. 



926 



ENGLAND. 




Earl of Chalhaixi. 



The year 1780 is memorable in the history of England by the "No- 
Popery Riots," instigated by George Gordon, called by courtesy 
Lord George Gordon, when a bill was introduced in parliament to 
relieve the Catholics from civil disabilities. Many Catholic chapels 
and dwellings, Newgate prison, and the house of Lord Mansfield were 
destroyed. Gordon was arrested and tried for treason, but acquitted. 

England maintained the unequal contest with vigour, and, upon the 
sea, with success. Tier fleets, under the command of Lord Rodney, 
prevailed over the Spanish and the French. Some islands were taken 
in the West Indies ; but some were lost. Li the East Indies, the 
British arms were successful. In the beginning of 1783, peace was 



ENGLAND. 



927 




No Popery Riots. 

concluded between the belligerent powers. England acknowledged 
the independence of the United States, surrendered Minorca and 
Florida to Spain, and the river Senegal with a few forts in Africa, 
and the islands of St. Lucia and Tobago in the West Indies, to 
France. 

In the beginning of this reign, there was a continual change of 
ministers. Lord Chatham, the duke of Newcastle, Lord Bute, George 
Grcnville, marquis of Rockingham, duke of Grafton, Lord North, Mr. 
Fox, and Mr. Shelburne, held successively the chief offices in the 
administration. In 1783, William Pitt, the. second son of Lord Chat- 
ham, was made prime-minister, and, with one short interval, retained 
that office twenty-two years. 

The French Revolution excited the horror of the tory party of 
England, and, as the government determined to maintain the prin- 
ciple of hereditary monarchy, war was declared against the republi- 
cans. The events of that great struggle belong to the history of 
France, and form her most glorious era. The democratic spirit of 
her mighty armies, under the guidance of the genius of Napoleon, 
carried every thing before it, and Europe lay at the feet of France, 
in chains. But England alone maintained her independence, and 
secured the supremacy upon the sea. During 1797, the English 
gained two great naval victories. The first action was fought off 
Cape St. Vincent, on the 14th of February, and the Spanish fleet of 
twenty-seven sail of the line was completely defeated by Sir John 
Jervis, afterwards created Earl St. Vincent. The second victory was 
gained over the Dutch fleet, off Camperdown, by Admiral Duncan, 



928 



ENGLAND. 




Tlie Dutcli Admiral surrendering to Duncan. 



and was even more complete than that gained over the Spanish fleet. 
Duncan ^Yas raised to the peerage. 

In the summer of 1798, a serious rebellion occurred in Ireland, 
stimulated bj about one thousand French troops. This was, however, 
soon suppressed, chiefly by the energy and pi^udence of Lord Corn- 
wallis. The one thousand French troops were captured on the 8th 
of September. In the expedition of Napoleon to Egypt, in 1798, he 
was pursued by the famous Admiral Nelson. Napoleon and his army 
were safely landed. But the French fleet was attacked in Aboukir 
bay, near the mouth of the Nile, and after a battle which lasted during 
the night, all the French fleet, except two ships of the line and two 
frigates, was taken or destroyed. The French flag-ship blew up during 
the engagement. Admiral Nelson was created Baron Nelson of the 
Nile for this splendid achievement. 

In 1800, a legislative union between Great Britain and Ireland, 
upon the same principles as the union between England and Scotland 
in the reign of Anne, Avas consummated, and the islands were known 
from that time as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 
Early in 1801, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia were suspected of a 
combination to restrain the maritime power of Great Britain, and the 



ENGLAND. 



929 




Lord Nelson. 



government sent Sir Hyde Parker and Lord Nelson Tvith a powerful 
armament against Copenhagen. After an exceedingly severe engage- 





1 


J 


- ■^-^^^^^"^ 




^-^ 


\1^ 


" 






i' 


-*S 


^. 




A=^K 


ljEfe«^^i^^^^ 



Bdttle of the Nile. 
59 



930 



ENGLAND. 




Death of Sir Kalph. Abercromljie. 

mcnt, several Danish ships were destroyed or captured, and Copenha- 
gen was in danger of being destroyed, when an armistice was con- 
cluded and the city saved. 

After the resignation of Mr. Pitt, early in 1802, the duke of Port- 
land became premier. A negotiation with France was opened, which 
ended in the definitive treaty of Amiens, March 27th, 1802. Pre- 
vious to this, a British army, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, drove 
the French out of Egypt ; but the brave Abercrombie was killed in 
the decisive engagement. Hostilities were renewed between France 
and England in 1803. Napoleon now commanded Europe, but Eng- 
land was equally victorious upon the sea. On the 21st of October, 
1804, Lord Nelson, with twenty-seven ships of the line, encountered 
the combined fleets of France and Spain, amounting to thirty-three 
sail, under the command of Admiral Villeneuve, off Cape Trafalgar. 
Twenty of the enemy's ships struck during the engagement; but most 
of the prizes were wrecked in a gale that sprang up that night. By 
this victory, the French and Spanish navies were nearly destroyed, 
and the maritime supremacy of Britain established; but the great 
Admiral Nelson, the glory of the navy, vv'as killed in the engagement. 
When wounded, he was carried below, and lived long enough to know 
that he was victorious. 

Mr. Pitt, who had again become premier in 1804, died on the 23d 



ENGLAND. 



931 




Nelson woundfed. 



of January, 1806, and was succeeded by his great political rival, Mr. 
Fox. But the new administration did not last long. Mr. Fox died 
on the 13th of September, and, in the following March, a new minis- 
try was formed, of which Mr. Percival was usually considered the 
head. In 1807, expeditions were .sent to the Dardanelles, to Egypt, 
and against the Spanish settlements in South America ; but none of 
them were attended with advantage. Another expedition was sent 
against Copenhagen, which succeeded, after bombarding and nearly 
destroying the town, in gaining possession of the whole Danish fleet, 
which was brought to England. 

In the spring of 1808, the Spaniards, exasperated by the cruelties 
committed by the French in Madrid, roused themselves to exertion, 



932 



ENGLAND. 




Burial of Sir John Moore. 



declared war against France, and sent deputies to England to implore 
assistance. An expedition of about ten thousand men was sent to 
their assistance, under the command of Sir Arthur Welleslej, and 
arrived at Corunna on the 20th of July. 

On communication with the Spanish leaders in that district, it was 
thought best to proceed in the first instance to Portugal, for the pur- 
pose of expelling General Junot, who had the command of a French 
army in that country, and was in possession of Lisbon. The English 
landed at Mondego Bay, and defeated the French in a battle at 
Yimcira, which was fought on the 21st of August ; after which the 
French army retired to the strong position which covered Lisbon, and 
a convention was in consequence entered into by Sir Hew Dalrymple, 
who had su*bsequently taken command of the army, for the evacuation 
of Portugal by the French troops. 

In the month of November, Sir John Moore, who had arrived with 
a reinforcement of twelve thousand men, led the British army into 
Spain. General Moore was, however, compelled to retreat ; and, 
after a most severe and calamitous march through a difficult country, 
and in most inclement weather, he arrived at Corunna, January 16th, 
1809. 

Soult, the French general, overtook and attacked Moore when on 
the point of embarking. The British, though suffering under extreme 



ENGLAND. 



933 




The Allied Sovereigns in England. 



fatigue and anxiety, beat off the French, though with great loss. Sir 
John Moore was among those who fell. His friends were able to 
spare a few moments, amid the confusion of the night succeeding the 
battle, through the whole of which the troops were embarking, to inter 
the body of their lamented commander on the ramparts of Corunna. 

In April, 1809, Sir Arthur Welleslcy was again appointed to tlie 
command of the army of the peninsula. This vigilant and skilful 
commander succeeded in driving the French out of Portugal, and, ad- 
vancing into Spain, gained a victory at Talavera ; but, being unsup- 
ported by the Spaniards, he was compelled to fall back. In 1811 
and '12, there was much hard fighting in Spain, and the English 
gained many victories ; but the French were so superior in numbers, 
that Lord Wellington, after advancing to ISIadrid, was obliged to re- 
treat to the Portuguese frontier. In 1813, however, his success was 
glorious and complete. He drove the French entirely out of the 
peninsula, and, on the 7th of October, entered France. Bordeaux 
welcomed the British as deliverers, and Marshal Soult was defeated 
at Toulouse. The capture of Paris and the abdication of Napoleon 
followed. Louis XVIII. was restored to his throne, and a treaty 
of peace concluded ; but the complete adjustment of the complicated 
questions involved in the negotiation was reserved for the congress 
of Vienna. In June, the emperor of Russia, the king of Prussia, and 
several celebrated generals visited England, and were received with 
rejoicings and festivity. A war with America had broken out in 1812 : 
it was not very honourable to the British arms, and upon the sea the 
Americans gained many victories in contests of single vessels. Peace 
was restored in the latter part of 1814. 



934 



ENGLAND. 




The Kout at Waterloo 

Early in 1815, all Europe was thrown into consternation by the 
escape of Bonaparte from Elba. On his arrival in France, he was 
everywhere received with enthusiasm, and a mighty army was at his 
command. The allies refused to conclude a peace with him, and, 
assembling their forces, named the duke of Wellington generalissimo 
of them. Napoleon was soon in the field, and, as usual, was the assail- 
ant. Upon the decisive field of Waterloo, his strenuous efforts and 
skilful combinations were bafiled by the firmness of the British and 
the delay of Marshal Grouchy. The victory turned upon the arrival 
of Blucher or Grouchy with reserve corps. Blucher gained the field 
with fresh troops, and the French were routed. Paris fell into the 
hands of the allies, Louis XVIII. was restored to his throne, and 
Napoleon sent to the island of St. Helena, where he remained till his 
death, in May, 1821. 

England came out of this long struggle with the French with a 




Oliver Goldsraith. 



ENGLAND. 



935 




Reynolds. 

great increase of military reputation, but also with a great increase 
of the public debt. The humiliation of the piratical Algerines and 
the liberation of Christian slaves by Lord Exmouth, in May, 181G, 
and the abolition of the negro slave-trade between Africa and the 
West Indies, were events more honourable to the nation and beneficial 
to mankind than all the British victories of this reign. George III., 
having at intervals of his life been subject to insanity, sank at length 
into complete derangement of intellect. During this misfortune, 
the Prince of Wales, afterward George IV., became prince-regent. 
George III. died on the 29tli of January, 1820, in the eighty-second 
year of his age, and the sixtieth of his reign, during the last nine 
years of which he had been afflicted with blindness, deafness, and 
insanity. 




Garnet 



936 



ENGLAND. 




John Ho'ivard. 



Dui'Ing tliis long reign, many men of genius flourished in Great 
Britain — enough to render it worthy of the title of the Augustan age 
of English literature. A constellation of poets, among whom Cowper, 
Thomson, Burns, Scott, and Byron, were pre-eminent, shed lustre over 
their country's verse, while Johnson and Goldsmith Avere distinguished 
for the versatility of genius displayed in their works. Burke, Fox, Pitt, 
and Sheridan won fame by their oratorical powers and literary achieve- 
ments. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first great English painter, also 
flourished at this time. Garrick, by his delineations of Shakspeare's 
heroes, contributed much towards bringing that great author into 
popularity. AVith all these contributions of genius, the English mind 



ENGLAND. 



937 




Johnson. 



advanced rapidly. The famous John Howard, by his great philanthropic 
exertions, was also an honour to this reign, and one of the best men 
his country ever produced. 

George IV. was crowned king July 19,1821. He was fifty-nine years 
of age, had received an excellent classical education, but was dissolute 
in morals. His dissipated life, while a young man, had made him 
unpopular in England, but his first speech in the House of Lords 
gained him the love and confidence of the people. George IV. was 
married to his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, Avhom he never loved, 
and from whom he afterward separated. Their only child died in 
1817. Queen Caroline was accused of many crimes, and was brought 




Statue of George IV. 



938 



ENGLAND. 




Ooleridee. 



to trial on account of them. Public opinion is not fixed as to her guilt. 
She died in I82I5 and was relieved from the misery and disgrace of 
doubtful purity. 

George IV. seldom met his parliament in person ; very rarely held 
courts, that is, he rarely received the great nobility, foreign ministers, 
and distinguished strangers, and he seldom appeared in any public 
place. He died of dropsy in July, 1830, and was committed to the 
tomb with splendid ceremonies, but without the regrets of the good 
and pure. The reign of George IV. is marked by Catholic emanci- 
pation. It was a most unjust state of aifairs when men were excluded 
from office and privilege on account of their religious creed. In 
1829, an act of parliament removed many disabilities from the Catho- 
lics, and raised them in the scale of citizenship. Several distinguished 
poets made valuable additions to the literature of the nation during 
this reign. Coleridge, Shelley, Scott, Byron, and Campbell have 
made themselves immortal. 

William Henry, duke of Clarence, succeeded to the throne on the 
decease of his brother George IV., and was titled William IV. On 
his accession, the English nation displayed a general feeling of suffer- 
ing from oppressive taxation and unjust government. The taxation 
since the accession of George III. had more than quadrupled ; one- 
sixth of the population were paupers. The people became clamorous 
for a better representation in parliament, believing that a wise govern- 
ment might remedy this sickly state of things. A reformed parlia- 
ment Avas obtained in 1832, the king conceding as much to the people 
as he then could. William reigned seven years, and died June, 1837. 
He was succeeded by the Princess Victoria, daughter of his brother, 
Edward, duke of Kent. 



ENGLAND. 



939 




Victoria. 



On the 10th of February, 1840, the young Queen Victoria was 
married to Albert, prince of Saxe-Cobourg and Gotha. She had been 
carefully educated. But in the present state of England, the influence 
of a sovereign is much less than formerly, and the character of one 
cannot be a matter of the highest importance to the nation. The 
wars with China and Afghanistan, which terminated so advantageously 
for the British, have been narrated in another part of this work. The 
British anticipate a long and prosperous reign for Victoria. Under 
the management of such brilliant statesmen as Sir Robert Peel and 
Lord John Russell, the machinery of government has been successfully 
exerted to improve the condition of the nation, and extend its influ- 
ence. The Irish rebellion of 1848, — if a movement suppressed by a 
small force of police can be so dignified, — the numerous Chartist meet- 
ings in favour of parliamentary reform, and the great exhibition of 
the manufactures of the world, at London, in 1851, are the most 
important of recent events. The people groan under the weight of 
taxation, and occasionally break out in loud complaints, which should 
serve as warnings to the government to provide for their gradual relief 
or violence may derange its whole machinery. 




GERMANY— THE REFORMATION. 

V^l®^/^!^^^^'^ ^^^6 beginning of the sixteenth century, many 
doctrines and practices had been introduced 
and sanctioned by the church "which excited 
the amazement, and, finally, the opposition 
of many pure-minded men. But although 
the objectionable practices were so opposed, 
such was the power of the pope that few 
dared openly to say that he sanctioned 
aught but Avhat was righteous. The fate of 
John Huss and others we have narrated. At length, however, one 
appeared whoso courage nothing could appal, and Avhose powerful 
though somewhat uncouth mind well qualified him to head a reforma- 
tion. This was Doctor Martin Luther. He was born at Eisleben on 

940 




GERMANY — THE REFORMATION. 



941 








Leo Z. 



the 10th of November, 1483, of very poor parents. In his boyhood, 
he earned a scant living by singing in the streets. In 1501 he 
entered the university of Erfurt, and in 1503 took the degree of mas- 
ter of arts, after which he lectured on the physics and ethics of Aris- 
totle, and acquired the fame of a sound scholar. In obedience to his 
father's wishes, Luther applied himself to the study of the law, when 
an almost miraculous recovery from a severe sickness, and a narrow 
escape from death by lightning, exercised such an influence upon his 
mind that he resolved to study theology, and entered the Augustine 
convent of Erfurt on the 22d of July, 1504. In 1507 he completed 
his novitiate, and then applied himself to a more thorough study of 
the Scriptures. Through the influence of Dr. Staupitz, vicar-general 
of the Augustines in Germany, who had prophesied that Luther came 
into the world for some great work, in 1508 he gained the chair of 
philosophy at the university of Wittemberg. 

The abuse which first excited the open opposition of Luther was the 
sale of indulgences, or exemptions from future punishment for sins. 
At first, these indulgences were nothing more than the remission of 
penance for sins ; but the horrible doctrine began to be introduced 
that exemption from the fires of purgatory might be purchased not 
only on account of crimes already perpetrated, but for those which 
the buyer intended to commit. This trafiic was intrusted to the men- 
dicant monks, and under Leo X. extended to the greater part of Eu- 
rope. In Germany, one Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was selected by 



942 



GERMANY — THE REFORMATION. 




Tetzel. 



the papal nuncio as a fit person to be employed in the discreditable 
task of cajoling his simple-minded countrymen. 

On the 31st of October, 1517, Martin Luther declared war against 
the sale of indulgences, by affixing to the great door of the castle 
church at Wittemberg a challenge to all comers to dispute with him 
on ninety-five diff'erent theses, in which he pledged himself to prove 
that the pardon of sins was to be obtained only by contrition and 
penance, and not to be bought with money. This bold challenge of 
Luther's fell like a spark on matter prepared for explosion. What 
thousands had thought in secret, he had dared openly to express ; 
what hundreds of thousands had suspected, they now felt to be true. 
The theses of Luther found their way into every part of Germany, 
yet the pope and his advisers looked on the affair as merely one of 
those disputes between monks of rival orders which were perpetually 
occurring, and commissioned the cardinal Tommaso di Gaeta, (Caie- 
tanus,) general of the Dominican order, to inquire into the circum- 
stances of the case. Luther was accordingly summoned to appear 
at Rome, but the emperor Maximilian, deeming this a fit opportunity 
for humbling the arrogant pretensions of the pope, informed Frederick, 
duke of Saxony, that the monk must be spared ; and Frederick, proud 
of the reputation which his newly-founded university of Wittemberg 
had acquired through Luther's exertions, willingly assented. Luther, 
therefore, instead of being given up to the pope, was permitted to 
meet Caietanus at Augsburg, whore the diet was then sitting, and to 
discuss with him the subjects of his theses. At this period nothing 



GEKMANY — THE KEFORMATION. 



943 








Frederick, duke of Saxony. 

seems to have been farther from the reformer's wishes than a separa- 
tion from the church ; but his opponent was an intemperate man, who 
required unqualified retractation of all that Luther had advanced ; 
and, this being refused, he rose in great wrath, and dismissed the 
assembly with these violent words : " I will have nothing more to say 
to that beast, for he hath deep-seeing eyes and strange speculations 
in his head." Luther at length appealed to the pope ; but his attempts 
at reconciliation only drew on farther discussions, in which he found 
it necessary to combat the principal errors of the church of Rome one 
after another, and thus to widen hopelessly the breach between the 
pope and the reformers. Circumstances at this time greatly favoured 
Luther. By the death of Maximilian the imperial croAvn had become 
vacant, and the pope, willing to conciliate Frederick of Saxony, (who 
administered the aifairs of the empire during the interregnum,) pro- 
posed a friendly discussion, to be held at Leipzic between Luther and 
his Wittemberg friends Carlstadt and Melancthon on the one side, 
and the famous logician Dr. Eck on the other. Had this conference 
taken place before the discussion with Cardinal Caietanus, a compro- 
mise might perhaps have been efi'ected ; but Luther had now gone too 
far to retract any thing : and when, in the beginning of the year 
1520, the famous papal bull "Exurge Domine," (Let God arise, and 
let his enemies be scattered,) in which Luther and his doctrine were 
denounced, was sent into Germany, he publicly burned it in presence 
of all the professors and students of Wittemberg. 

The most talented and distinguished of Luther's co-workers were 
Philip Melancthon and Ulrich Zwingli. The first is described by 



dU 



GERMANY — THE EEFORMATIOX. 




Melancthon. 



Erasmus as a man of uncommon reading, exact knowledge of classical 
antiquity, and one who wrote with elegance and good taste. In 1518 
Melancthon accepted an invitation to fill the Greek chair at Wittem- 
berg, where he distinguished himself, as he had done at other places, 
by his profound learning, eloquent and popular style of lecturing, and 
above all, by the candour and gentleness of his disposition. The first 
wish of his heart Avas to purify the church from its corruptions, yet 
he regretted the separation of the Protestants from the church of 
Rome, and, subsequently, the rupture between the Lutherans and 
Zwinglians. His " Confession of Augsburg" spread his fame through- 
out Europe, and procured him invitations from Francis I. of France 
and Henry VIII. of England. But he declined both, and resided in 
Germany till his death, which took place on the 19th April, 1560. 

Ulrich Zwingli was the leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. 
He had been distinguished for his diligent study of the Scriptures and 
his fervent zeal, and in 1511 he was made canon of the cathedral of 
Zurich, where he frequently preached against the errors of Rome. 
He opposed the sale of indulgences, and subsequently reduced his 
church to what he conceived to be apostolic simplicity. In point of 
doctrine, there seems to have been little difference between him and 
Luther, except upon the subject of the eucharist — Luther maintaining 
that the words, " This is my body," Avere to be taken literally, ZAvingli 
contending that the elements were only symbols of the Redeemer's 
body and blood. ZAvingli Avas slain on the 11th of October, 1531, in 



GERMANY — THE REFORMATION. 



945 




ZwingU. 



a battle between the men of Zurich and those of the Romish cantons, 
in which he bore the banner of the republic. His mantle fell on John 
Calvin, or Chauvin, a native of Noyon in Picardj, who drew up a 
plan of church government, which M^as accepted by the authorities of 
Geneva, and was the foundation of what is generally called the Gene- 
van or Reformed Church. Calvin was a man of iron will, deep learn- 
ing, but gloomy mind. His doctrine still divides the Christian world. 

We now return to Luther. The election of Charles V. to fill the 
imperial throne, in 1519, gave to the Reformation a powerful and de- 
termined foe. But it nevertheless advanced with sure and rapid 
strides. Two of Luther's pamphlets, one in Latin, addressed to the 
"Christian Nobility of the German Nation," and the other in German, 
intended for the common people, and entitled, " Of the Babylonish 
Captivity," gained him and his cause thousands of friends. 

In 1521, a diet of the empire was held at Worms, at which the new 
emperor presided, and proposed plans for crushing at once these he- 
retical proceedings, by which, as he declared, the peace of the church 
was threatened. Not doubting that such would be the effect of a 
public discussion, and willing also to oblige Luther's patron, the elec- 
tor of Saxony, Charles summoned the reformer to appear at the diet 
and defend his doctrines. Although Luther received the emperor's 
safe-conduct, his friends attempted to persuade him not to obey the 
summons. But he was prepared for martyrdom, and expressed his 
mighty resolution in these words: " If it please God, I am ready to 
be burnt to death as Huss was. But forth I shall go, in the name of 

60 



946 



GERMANY — THE REFOEMATION. 




John Calvin. 



tlie Lord, were there a fire blazing as high as the heavens all the way 
between Wittemberg and Worms." 

On the afternoon of the ITth of April, Luther appeared before the 
diet with his counsel, Jerome Schurf, The commissary of the arch- 
bishop of Treves then opened the proceedings by asking Luther whe- 
ther he acknowledged a pile of books which lay on the table to be his, 
and whether he would retract their contents. When, by the request 
of the counsel, the titles of the books had been read singly, the re- 
former acknowledged them to be his. In reply to the second ques- 
tion, he asked a day to prepare and to give such a solemn matter due 
consideration. The emperor granted the request, and the assembly 
was dismissed. On the evening of the next day the diet again met, 
and the question whether he would retract was again put to Luther, 
who replied in justification of his course of action, and concluded by 
calling on high and low to confute him out of the gospel or the pro- 
phetic writings ; and if they proved him to be in error, he said he 
would himself throw the books into the fire. The imperial orator then 
told him that that was not the place for disputations, and required an 
answer, "Yes," or "No." Luther replied, "I will not recall what I 
have written, so help me God. Amen." Soon after, the assembly 
broke up. The next day, the emperor announced that he would pro- 
tect the ancient faith after the manner of his ancestors, give aid to 
the papal see, and pronounce against Luther and his followers the 
ban of the empire ; but he would not violate his safe-conduct. 

The discussion as to the lawfulness and expediency of treating 



GERMANY — THE REFORMATION. 947 



Luther as John Huss had been treated at Constance, now became 
violent and obstinate ; but the majority were in favour of respecting 
the safe-conduct. Soon after, Luther was ordered to quit the town 
within twenty-one days, and not to preach upon the road to Wittem- 
berg. 

The successful reformer had not proceeded far upon the road, when 
he was surrounded by a band of friends in the disguise of robbers, 
and carried oif to the castle of Wartburg, belonging to his friend, 
Duke Frederick of Saxony. Here, under the feigned name of Squire 
George, he employed himself in translating the Scriptures into Ger- 
man, a work Avhich he executed with remarkable fidelity. In this 
retreat Luther remained ten months, when he was called into the field 
to assert the supremacy of the moderate reformers at Wittemberg; 
his zealous but imprudent friend Carlstadt having, in the mean time, 
employed himself in destroying every ornament connected with the 
Romish ritual, and in undoing much that his master had achieved. 
After eight days' thundering from the pulpit, Luther was trium- 
phant. 

The perversion of Luther's doctrine concerning Christian liberty 
became the cause of much bloodshed in various parts of Germany, 
where the peasants, who had long groaned under the feudal yoke, 
were beginning to persuade themselves that the overthrow of the spi- 
ritual supremacy was but a prelude to their emancipation from tem- 
poral bonds. In Swabia, Franconia, Thuringia, and Saxony, the serfs 
arose and committed many outrages, but were at length completely 
overthrown and their leaders killed. Luther, who had in vain exhorted 
them to lay down their arms, declared that they* ought to be put to 
death like mad dogs. He was ever a strenuous advocate of the doc- 
trine of the divine right of kings. Hitherto the princes of Germany 
had suspected him of aiming to overthrow all authority; but they 
were now convinced that he was a powerful auxiliary in enabling them 
to free themselves from the pope as well as the emperor. 

From this time, the Reformation in Germany assumed the form of 
a struggle for political power. In the North, Gustavus Vasa intro- 
duced Lutheranism to widen the breach between the Swedes and Danes. 
Albert of Prussia embraced Protestantism for the sake of making 
the grandmastership of the Teutonic order hereditary in his family. 
Some of the German princes were, however, swayed by motives less 
objectionable. In Saxony, Luther himself set about the work of 
organizing a new church. Monks and nuns were absolved from their 
vows of celibacy, and Luther married a handsome young nun named 
Catharine of Bora, by whom he had four children. The monastic 



948 



GERMANY — THE REFORMATION. 




Catharine of Bora. 



orders were entirely suppressed, and the secular clergy placed on a 
different footing. 

In 1529, a diet assembled at Speiers, where the princes of the em- 
pire decided, by a majority of votes, that church affairs should remain 
as they were until a general council should be held. The Lutheran 
princes immediately drew up and forwarded to the emperor a protest, 
from which circumstance they and all the Lutheran party were thence- 
forth styled Protestants. Pope Adrian, whom Charles V. placed on 
the papal throne in 1521, acknowledged the justice of many charges 
against the churchy»but he died before he could make any reforms, 
and his successor, Clement VII., was of a different mind. 

The wild and fanatical conduct of the Anabaptists, a sect of reform- 
ers headed by Klaus Storch, a weaver, who maintained the absolute 
necessity of adult baptism, caused Luther and the moderate reformers 
much anxiety and trouble. Mlinster was the chief scene of their ex- 
cesses ; that city was stormed by the imperial troops, and most of the 
Anabaptists put to the sword. Since that time, Mlinster has been 
one of the most bigoted popish cities in Europe. 

On the 18th of June, 1530, the diet of Augsburg was opened by 
the emperor in person. On the 24th, the pope's legate appeared, and, 
in a long Latin oration, called on the states of the empire to unite in 
resisting the Turks ; and, addressing the Protestants particularly, 
implored them not to forsake the old church. The Protestant princes 
then demanded that the confession of their faith, drawn up by Me- 
lancthon, should be publicly read in German. This was complied 



GERMANY — THE REFORMATION. 



949 



with, and a great number of persons thus became acquainted with the 
real doctrines of the reformers. 

Luther now declared open war against Charles V., and a number 
of the Protestant princes assembled at Schmalkelden to enter into a 
league, offensive and defensive, by his advice. The emperor was in- 
clined to use conciliatory measures, and overtures were made by the 
princes. In 1532, what was called a religious peace was concluded 
at Nurnberg, the emperor engaging to allow freedom of conscience to 
the Protestants in return for the aid which they should give him in 
the war against the Turks ; but the emperor's duplicity caused the 
league to be renewed. The final settlement of these disputes was to 
be referred to a council which the pope summoned to meet at Trent, 
in the Tyrol, in the month of December, 1545. 

In the mean time, old age and chronic disease had been gradually 
wasting the strength of Martin Luther. The summer before his death 
he had retired to the estate of Zollsdorf, near Borna, to enjoy some 
repose; but the university of Wittemberg had prevailed on the elector 
to urge his return, and Luther obeyed. He was called to Eisleben 
by the count of Mansfeld. The fatigue of this last journey was too 
much for Luther's worn-out body, yet he preached four times at 
Eisleben. He was soon after taken very ill, and died on the morning 
of the 17th of February, 1546. The body was taken to Wittemberg, 
and buried with great ceremony and lamentation. The Protestants 
felt that they had lost a mighty leader — the right arm of their cause. 

The great struggle but began after the death of Luther, when the 
pope and the emperor, aided by the order of Jesuits, founded by Ig- 
natius Loyola in 1539, turned their whole power against the Protest- 
ants. The defeat of the elector of Saxony at Muhlberg, on the 24th 
of April, 1547, was a crushing blow, and the Protestant party was, 
for the time, completely powerless. But such was the perseverance 
of a few princes, that in 1555, by the treaty of Augsburg, they ob- 
tained the condition that all subjects should follow the religion of their 
rulers. 




Frederick the Great. 



PRUSSIA— FREDERICK THE GREAT. 




jIIE foundation of the present power of Prussia "was laid 
by Frederick William, of Brandenburg, surnamed the 
Great Elector, who died on the 29th of April, 1678, after 
governing Brandenburg and Prussia forty-eight years. 
He was the ablest and most patriotic German prince of 
his time, and while strengthening his dominions and improving the 
condition of his subjects, he strove to withstand the mighty power of 
France. But his conduct was occasionally very arbitrary, and those 
who opposed his measures were often punished with extreme severity. 
Before the death of the Great Elector, Brandenburg and Prussia were 
erected into a kingdom, under the name of Prussia. This kingdom 
increased in power and importance, until, under the reign of Frederick 
William!., who ascended the throne in 1713, it possessed a well disci- 
plined army of seventy-two thousand men. The magnificent army, 
which that king spent his days in organizing and training, was never 
called into the field in his lifetime. He died on the 3d of May, 1740, 
and was succeeded by Frederick II., surnamed, from his indomitable 
energy and capacity, the Great. 

Frederick the Great w^as twenty-eight years old when he ascended 
the Prussian throne. During the life of his father, he had suffered 

950 



FREDERICK THE GREAT. 951 



mucli from his violent and severe domestic rule, and had been driven 
into the company of rather -ndld young men. But after his father's 
death, he entered upon the functions of government, with an earnest 
wish to improve the condition of his people and to win a glorious name. 

The accession of Maria Theresa, in 1740, to the imperial throne of 
Austria, was opposed by a formidable league, consisting of the elector 
of Bavaria, the king of France, and the king of Prussia. Frederick, 
availing himself of some antiquated claims on certain dutchies in Sile- 
sia, invaded that country in December, and in the spring of the fol- 
lowing year overthrew the Austrians in a bloody battle, near Molwitz. 
This success caused Saxony, Spain, and Poland to join the confede- 
rates. A French army, under the command of Marshal Belleisle, then 
crossed the Rhine, overran a great part of Austria and Bohemia, and 
took the city of Prague, where Albert of Bavaria, whom Louis XV. had 
named lieutenant-general of his forces, halted to receive the homage 
of the Bohemians. Meanwhile, the queen of Hungary, abandoned by 
all her allies except England, purchased the forbearance of Frederick 
by the cession of Silesia, the king merely stipulating that the treaty 
should be kept secret for three months, to secure him from suspicion 
of treachery. But the treaty was respected by neither party. A 
formidable army of Hungarians, Croats, Pandours, and others, rallied 
to the support of Maria Theresa, freed the whole of Upper Austria 
in a week, and marching into Bavaria, captured Munich on the same 
day that Charles Albert, who had been elected emperor of Germany, 
received the imperial crown at Frankfort. 

Frederick renewed the war in Silesia, where he defeated the Aus- 
trians in 1742, and soon after granted peace to Maria Theresa on con- 
dition of receiving the whole of Upper as well as Lower Silesia. At 
the same time the elector of Saxony espoused the queen's cause. In 
the following year, the French were defeated at Dettingen by George 
II. of England, and the duke of Cumberland ; and the duke of Lor- 
raine ravaged the French province of Alsace. A second Silesian war 
between the Prussians and Austrians ended in December, 1744, by 
the peace of Dresden ; and in the early part of the next year Charles 
VII. died, and was succeeded on the imperial throne by the queen's 
husband, Francis I. In Flanders and Holland, the French marshal 
Saxe defeated the English and Dutch. At the general peace of Aix- 
la-chapelle, October 7th, 1748, Maria Theresa was insured in the un- 
disturbed possession of her dominions, according to the terms of the 
Pragmatic Sanction, but Frederick retained Silesia. 

In January, 1756, an alliance was concluded between Prussia and 
England. France was then at war with England, and upon solicita- 



952 FKEDERICK THE GREAT, 



tion of Maria Theresa, readily entered into an alliance with Austria 
in May following the treaty of Westminster. Russia also joined the 
cause of the empress of Austria. Frederick, gaining intelligence of 
the proceedings of the allies, determined to anticipate their designs, and 
suddenly appeared in Saxony at the head of seventy thousand men. 
He demanded permission to pass through that country to Bohemia, but 
did not receive a decided answer ; and immediately declaring war 
against the elector, he blockaded the little Saxon army between Pirne 
and Kcinigsmark. An Austrian force under General Brown advanced 
to the aid of the Saxons ; but was defeated by the Prussians near 
Lowositz. The Saxons then surrendered at discretion, and Avere 
drafted into the Prussian army. In the following spring, (17G7,) pre- 
parations were made by the allies for resuming the war on a more 
extensive scale. Austria and France contributed each one hundred 
and fifty thousand men, Russia one hundred thousand, Sweden twenty 
thousand, and the German empire generally sixty thousand. At the 
same time the ban of the empire was pronounced against Frederick 
by the diet at Ratisbon. Frederick opened the campaign by again 
invading Bohemia, and attacking the allies, who were intrenched in a 
strong position near Prague, under the command of Prince Charles 
of Lorraine, brother-in-law of the empress-queen. With his usual 
impetuosity the king urged his troops through a green morass, which 
he had mistaken for meadow ground. Marshal Schwerin implored 
him to delay the attack until the following morning ; but the con- 
temptuous retort of his master so piqued the old man, that seizing a 
standard, he rushed wildly forward, and fell pierced with four balls. 
After a protracted and bloody struggle, the Austrians fled in all direc- 
tions, leaving their general. Brown, among the dead. Some of the 
fugitives took refuge in the city of Prague, while others joined the 
army of Marshal Daun, who was stationed in the neighbourhood. On 
the 18th of June another battle was fought near Kollin, in which the 
Prussians were utterly routed, losing fourteen thousand men, with all 
their artillery and baggage. 

A few weeks after this disaster, Frederick received the dispiriting 
information that his ally, the duke of Cumberland, had been de- 
feated by the French, and had signed a convention at Kloster-Severn, 
by which he engaged to disband his troops, and to give up Hanover, 
Brunswick, and the whole of the country between the Weser and the 
Rhine. But the government of England refused to ratify the dis- 
graceful convention. Frederick again took the field on the 5th of 
November, and attacked the united army of imperialists and French 
who were encamped near Rossback. The enemy, who were three 



PRUSSIA. 953 

times as numerous as the Prussians, were so confident of victory, that 
they filled their camp with women and French friseurs. But the first 
charge of the Prussian cavalry threw them into confusion, and the 
whole army, with the exception of a few Swiss mercenaries, fled with- 
out firing a shot. Exactly a month after this easy triumph, Frede- 
rick with only thirty thousand men defeated eighty thousand impe- 
rialists near Leuthen and soon after captured Breslau. He now 
proposed terms of peace, but Maria Theresa rejected them. 

When the war began afresh, the Prussian army, augmented by large 
reinforcements from England, was placed under the command of the 
duke of Brunswick. The Russians were then defeated at Zorndorf, 
near Frankfort on the Oder, and compelled to retreat into Poland. 
In 1758, the Prussians were defeated at Hochkirch ; but in the fol- 
lowing year, the duke of Brunswick obtained a splendid victory over 
the French at Minden, Frederick now experienced some severe 
reverses ; and in 1760, his embarrassments were increased by the 
refusal of George III. of England to continue the subsidy which had 
been paid to Prussia by his predecessor. But in 1762, Peter III. 
succeeded to the imperial throne of Russia, and immediately entered 
into an alliance with Frederick, an example which was soon followed 
by Sweden. A general peace was concluded at Paris on the 10th of 
February, 1763 ; and soon afterward, Maria Theresa, abandoned by 
her allies, was compelled to sign a convention, by which Silesia was 
again secured to Frederick. 

We have thus narrated the great military events of the career of 
the Prussian king. In the features of domestic government his reign 
is equally remarkable. The habits of the king were exceedingly 
active, and he had no drones about him. In the months of May and 
June, he regularly made a journey through his dominions, for the pur- 
pose of reviewing the troops, and ascertaining by personal inspection 
the efficiency of every department of the public service. Within ten 
years from the time of his accession, an extensive tract of swampy 
land in the neighborhood of Stettin, which had been hitherto unin- 
habitable, contained two hundred and eighty villages, swarming with 
industrious handicraftsmen and agriculturists. The Oder was made 
navigable by means of canals. Frederick also strove to promote the 
intellectual welfare of his people, by purchasing rare works of art, 
adding many thousands of volumes to the public library, and inviting 
celebrated literary men to his court. He was himself a poet and 
musician, and had a very extravagant admiration of the great French 
writers. The famous Voltaire was sent by Louis XV. upon a mission 
to the Prussian court, and he was received at Frederick's palace of 



954 



PRUSSIA. 



Sans Souci w-ith every nicark of respect and friendship. The negotia- 
tion was conducted in a whimsical manner ; the great poet talking of 
nothing but treaties and guaranties, and the great king of nothing 
but metaphors and rhymes. They had exchanged characters. But 
in secret they both laughed at each other. Frederick's death took 
place on the 17th of August, 1786. His death created a deep sensa- 
tion throughout Europe, for he had been regarded as the hero of his 
age, and certainly was one of the greatest monarchs who have ever 
come to the throne by legitimate succession. 




Battle of Chotusitz. 




Hugh Capet. 




FRANCE— SUCCESSION OF THE KINGS FROM 
HUGH CAPET TO LOUIS PHILIP. 

"^. UGH CAPET, duke of Francia, in 987 was raised to the 
French throne. With him commences the Capetian 
dynasty, of which all the Bourbon princes to Louis 
Philip were members. Hugh was a prince of marked 
ability. He died in 996, and was succeeded by his son 
Robert I. (996-1031 ;) then followed in succession 
Henry I. (1031-1060,) Philip L (1060-1108,) Louis 
VI. (1108-1137,) Louis VII. (1137-1180.) Then followed Philip IL 
surnamed Augustus, (1180-1223.) In his reign began the wars 
between France and England, arising originally out of the claims 
of Henry IL of England, in Anjou and Normandy, and other parts 
of France acquired by marriage and inheritance. These wars lasted, 
with intervals, for two hundred and fifty years, without final success 
on the part of the English. They are noticed in our historical collec- 
tions of England. To Philip II. succeeded Louis VIIL (1223-1226,) 
Louis IX. called Saint Louis, (1226-1270,) Philip HL (1270-1285,) 
Philip IV. surnamed the Fair, (1285-1313.) His three sons, Louis 
X., Philip v., and Charles IV., all reigned in succession, between the 
years 1314 and 1328. With the last of these ended the chief line of 
the Capetians, and the collateral line of the house of Valois came 

955 



956 



SUCCESSION OF THE KINGS OF FRANCE. 




The Ivlaid of Orleans. 



in with Philip VI. (1328-1350.) His successors of the house of 
Valois Avere John, surnamed the Good, (1350-1364,) Charles V., sur- 
named the Wise, (1364-1480,) Charles VI. (1480-1422,) Charles VII. 
(1422-1461,) restored to his throne by Joan of Arc, the famous Maid 
of Orleans. Louis XL (1461-1543.) This prince was involved in 
constant strife with Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy. Charles 
VIIL (1483-1498,) Louis XIL (1498-1515,) Francis L (1515-1547.) 
Francis I. was the formidable and constant rival of the emperor 
Charles V., and bloody wars were waged between them, in which por- 
tions of France were desolated. Henry II. (1547-1559,) Francis 11. 
(1559-1560,) Charles IX. (1560-1574.) During the reign of Charles 
IX., Catherine of Medicis, an able, ambitious, but unscrupulous woman, 
ruled the kingdom, and in 1572 instigated the horrible massacre of 
St. Bartholomew, in which thousands of Protestants fell. Henry III. 
(1574-1589) was murdered by a monk, named James Clement, and 
with him the house of Valois became extinct. The house of Bourbon, 
in the person of Henry, king of Navarre, now gained possession of the 
throne. Henry IV. overthrew the forces of the Catholic League, and 
established his power, but was assassinated on the 14th of May, 1610, 
by Ravaillac, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIIL (1610-1643,) 
Louis XIV. (1643-1715,) surnamed the Great, on account of his many 
conquests and the splendour of France during his reign. Louis XV., 
his great-grandson, (1715-1774,) and Louis XVL, grandson of Louis 
XV., an amiable but weak ruler. He made one concession after 



SUCCESSION OF THE KINGS OF FRANCE. 



957 




Charles Vni. 



anotiier to the liberal party of the kingdom, until they gained strength 
and confidence, and on the 3d of September, 1791, deprived him of 
his royal prerogative, and then of his life on the scafi'old, January 
21st, 1793. The reign of terror ensued, and lasted from the 24th of 
July, 1793, to the 28th of July, 1794. The government of the five 
members, called the Directory, ensued, and lasted from the 26th of 
October, 1795, to the 10th of November, 1799, -when Napoleon 
Bonaparte attained the power, first as consul, and in 1804 as empe- 
ror, by the name of Napoleon. In 1814, the European powers forced 
liim to abdicate the throne of France in exchange for the sovereignty 
of the island of Elba, and Louis XVIII. ascended the throne of his 
ancestors. In March, 1815, Napoleon suddenly landed in France, 
and soon regained his former power. But in the battle of Waterloo, 
June 18, 1815, he was utterly overthrown, and Louis XVIII. again 
returned to France. On the 16th of September, 1824, Louis died, 
and was succeeded by Charles X. By a revolution in 1830, Charles 
was forced to abdicate, and Louis Philip, duke of Orleans, was pro- 
claimed king of the French. But he became tyrannical, and by the 
revolution of February, 1848, he was compelled to fly to England, and 
the monarchy then gave place to a republic. 




Napoleon, 



FRANCE— NAPOLEON. 



HE history of Napoleon Bonaparte is an account 
of one of the most thrilling periods of the world's 
progress. He gave France more power than 
she had possessed even in the days of Charle- 
magne, and covered her arms with glory. Napo- 
leon was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 
15th of August, 17G9. In 1786, he commenced 
his military career, being then appointed second 
lieutenant in a regiment of artillery. In 1793, 
he came into general notice by his skilful recommendations, which 
resulted in the recovery of Toulon from the English. On the same 
day on which Toulon was taken, he was made brigadier-general and 
commander of the artillery of the army of Italy. In Piedmont, he 
aided materially in securing the triumph of the French arms. Having 
rendered important service in establishing the power of the directory 

958 




NAPOLEON. 



959 




IT.n 1l 



at Areola. 



on tlie IStli Vendemiaire, Napoleon received the appointment of 
general-in-chief of the army of Italy. (March 30, 1796.) The cam- 
paign established his fame as a daring, original, and skilful com- 
mander. His proclamation fired his soldiers with an enthusiasm which 
nothing could resist, and his plan of concentrating his force to strike 
the foe while divided gave him triumph after triumph. In all the 
battles with the Austrians, his genius was conspicuous, and at Lodi, 
and the passage of the bridge of Areola, his undaunted bravery 
astonished even brave men. At the peace of Campo-Formio, October 
17, 1797, the independence of the Italian republics and the supremacy 
of France were established. 

Napoleon was next placed in command of the expedition to Egypt. 
The capture of the island of Malta, (June 12, 1798,) and of Alexan- 
dria, (July 2,) were the first results of this expedition. The victory 
over the Turks, (July 25, 1779,) and the recovery of Aboukir, (August 
2,) were Napoleon's last achievements in Egypt. He had been repulsed 
at Acre, and found it impossible to execute his vast designs of con- 
quest in the East. The critical state of affairs in France offered a fine 
field for his ambition and genius, and he returned home, leaving Kleber 
in command in Egypt. On the 9th of November, 1799, (18th Bru- 
maire,) he overthrew the directory. The legislature was driven from 
its hall the next day, and the government of three consuls established, 
Bonaparte being the first and the most powerful. From this time, it 
was the policy of Bonaparte to establish a firm government and regu- 
lar administration of justice at home, and to humble the enemies of 



960 



NAPOLEON. 




Louis ZVIII. 



the republic. Hastily collecting an army, tlie first consul, in 1800, 
crossed Mount St. Bernard, descended into Italy, gained the splendid 
victory of Marengo on the 14th of June, compelled the Austrians to 
evacuate Upper Italy, and then, leaving Massena in command, re- 
turned to Paris. Several conspiracies for the overthrow of Napoleon 
were now detected, and the principal conspirators executed. The 
numerous victories of the French armies brought about a general 
peace, (November 9, 1801,) and Napoleon directed his powerful mind 
to improving the condition of the nation. In August, 1802, he was 
elected, by a majority of more than three million votes, consul for 
life. In spite of the efforts of Napoleon to maintain peace, England 
declared war against France on the 18th of May, 1803. The gigantic 
project termed the continental system was put in force soon after, 
and Napoleon, being by the general voice of the French chosen 
emperor, found himself poAverful enough to contend with the rest of 
Europe if necessary. England, Sweden, and Russia only refused at 
first to acknowledge the emperor, and Louis XVIII. from his retire- 
ment issued a protest against him. The iron crown of Italy was 
also given to Napoleon, and he thus became the equal of Charlemagne 
in extent of dominion. A series of rapid and decisive victories was 
now gained over the forces of the allied powers, concluding with the 
great triumph of Austerlitz, which secured a very advantageous peace 
and a great accession of power to the emperor of the French. Great 
political changes were now made in Europe, and Napoleon's chief 
generals and ministers received domains in the conquered countries. 
In 1806, Prussia declared war against France, but was entirely 



NAPOLEON. 



961 




Kapolcon talking leave of liis to ps at Fontain'='bleau 

crushed in the great battle of Jena, fought October 14. Russia 
attempted to aid Prussia, but at Pultusk, (December 26,) Eyhau, (Feb- 
ruary 7 and 8, 1807,) Ostrolenka, (June 12,) and Freidland, (June 
14,) her armies were completely defeated, and on the 9th of July, the 
treaty of Tilsit secured peace between the three nations. The almost 
anarchical state of Spain offering a field for the extension of Napoleon's 
power, he, in 1809, made Joseph, his brother, king 'of that country. 
Junot with a powerful army had previously taken possession of Portu- 
gal. In 1809, Austria declared war against France, and all Germany 
was filled with an insurrectionary spirit. But a series of victories, 
ending with that of Wagram, (July 5 and 6,) established the French 
supremacy, and was followed by a treaty of peace. In Spain, Napo- 
leon's marshals met with various success in contending with the 
English and Spaniards under Wellington, but they were driven out of 
Portugal. In March, 1810, Napoleon married Maria Louisa, arch- 
duchess of Austria. While the war in Spain continued, immense 
preparations were made for the invasion of Russia; and, in 1812, 
Napoleon set out with four hundred thousand men for that purpose. 
At first he was victorious, and he reached Moscow, the capital of 
Russia. But the burning of that city and other circumstances com- 
pelled him to retreat, and in consequence of the severity of the season, 
and the attacks of the Cossacks, above three hundred thousand men 
perished before they could be conducted beyond the limits of Russia. 
This was a fatal blow of fortune. The greater part of Europe now 
rose against Napoleon, and though he struggled manfully he was 
defeated at Leipsic, the allies entered France, and, on the 11th of 

61 



962 



NAPOLEON. 



April, 1814, he abdicated tlie sovereignty of France, took leave of his 
soldiers at Fontainebleau, and retired to his island, Elba. But there 
his mighty spirit could not be confined. On the 1st of March, 1815, 
he landed near Frejus, in France. The army enthusiastically joined 
him, as well as its most distinguished marshals, and he was soon the 
sovereign of France once more. But the powers of Europe united 
against him, and at Waterloo his plans and hopes were entirely over- 
thrown. The fugitive emperor surrendered to the English, who sent 
him to St. Helena, where he died May 5th, 1821. His character is 
yet a problem, and remains for the calm measurement of a future his- 
torian. But it will be agreed that he was a man of the greatest reach 
and activity of mind, the first of soldiers, and a sagacious statesman. 




Napoleon as First Consul. 




EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS OF 1848-49. 

GENERAL calm pervaded Europe during tlie 
latter part of the year 1847. But it was that 
death-like stillness which fills the air before the 
thunder-storm. Louis Philip of Orleans had been 
placed upon the throne of France, in 1830, as 
a " citizen king," and the choice of the people. It 
was expected from him, therefore, to respect the 
^liberties of his subjects in a greater measure than 
his predecessors. But all history proves that a 
people can hope nothing from their rulers but what they bind them 
to give. The love of power and aggrandizement is far too strong in 

° 965 




966 EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



tlio majority of men to let them stay from them when there is an 
open door. 

Guizot, the able minister of Louis Philip, bent his efforts to two 
great ends : to concentrate power in the executive of the government, 
and to maintain peace with the European nations. The accomplish- 
ment of the latter object was the defeat of the former effort. For, if 
the nation had been occupied in foreign war, it would not have marked 
executive encroachment. Being at peace abroad, it had time to note 
the slightest tread upon the forbidden ground of popular rights. In 
the latter part of 1847, Paris was strongly fortified, and defended by 
more than a hundred thousand troops. A revolution was not an- 
ticipated by the minister. But the seeds of discontent were widely 
sown ; murmurs, deeper for their very suppression, were heard in many 
quarters ; and eloquent tongues in the chamber of deputies denounced 
the gag of the press, the threatening of deputies, and the imprisonment 
of the people, under the guard of a mighty army. 

A desire for parliamentary reform caused the liberal party to hold 
many reform banquets in the fall of 1847. Emboldened by the en- 
thusiasm displayed at these banquets, the leaders of the opposition 
resolved to hold a monster one at the capital. This the government 
determined to prevent, and made extensive military preparations for 
that purpose. On the 29th of December, the chambers met. A long 
and ardent discussion immediately began upon the reply to the address 
of the king. The opposition members withdrew from the chamber 
when the vote was taken ; and further resolved to attend the monster 
banquet of the 22d of February. 

Early on the 22d of February, crowds of people moved towards the 
Champs Elysees. The banquet was dropped by the opposition, but 
about noon a procession was formed, and marched to the hotel where 
the meetings of the opposition were held. Another body of people 
gained the interior of the chamber of deputies. The troops ejected 
them ; but they retired singing the " Marsellaise Hymn," and shouting 
" Down with Guizot !" The mob then began to barricade the streets, 
and accumulated missiles. The national guard joined them in their 
cries for reform. The municipal guard refrained from coming in col- 
lision with the national guard. The people prevailed, and it was an- 
nounced that Guizot had dissolved his cabinet. 

On the night of the 23d, the troops of the line, no doubt irritated 
by the mob, fired upon them at the Hotel des Etrangers, and fifty of 
their number fell dead or wounded. This called on the storm in its 
full fury. Every street of importance was barricaded, and on the 
morning of the 24th there was not one without a strong fortress and 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



971 




Odillon Barrot. 



a numerous garrison. The national guards attacked and carried the 
defences of the municipal guards. Meanwhile the attempts to form a 
liberal cabinet, with Thiers and Odillon Barrot as chief officers, failed. 
By twelve o'clock on the 24th, the military power had passed from 
the government. An hour later, the abdication of Louis Philip was 
proclaimed. But it was too late for any thing but the republic. The 
Palais Royal was attacked and carried. The Tuileries surrendered, 
the king and royal family escaping at a back door. A general ran- 
sacking of the royal apartments then occurred. In the chamber of 
deputies an exciting scene was presented. The duchess of Orleans 
and others of the royal family barely escaped the fury of the mob, 
who broke into the chamber. M. Lamartine and Ledru Rollin mounted 
the tribune, and wrote out the names of members of a provisional 
government. The deputies then retired. 

At the Hotel de Ville, the members of the provisional government 
met to decide what measures to adopt. The people demanded that 
the first act of the government should be communicated to them. M. 
Dupont de I'Eure, the aged president, could not gain a hearing. 
Finally, after the most strenuous exertions, the provisional govern- 
ment was announced to consist of Dupont de I'Eure, Lamartine, Arago, 
Marrast, Ledru Rollin, Gamier Pages, Flocon, and Louis Blanc ; and 
the democratic republic was proclaimed and received with unanimous 
approval. Universal suffrage was established, the death-penalty 
abolished ; and other popular measures adopted. On the 25th of 



972 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 




Ledru HoUin. 



February, order was in a great measure restored, through the oratori- 
cal exertions of Lamartine. 

The week succeeding the revolution was employed by the govern- 
ment in restoring public confidence. Peace being secured, it became 
necessary to adopt measures for the election of permanent officers of 
the republic. The 23d of April was named as the day of election for 
a constituent assembly of nine hundred members. Ledru Rollin op- 
posed the decree containing these provisions, and issued an incendiary 
proclamation. He even threatened to call the people to overthrow 
the provisional government, but was deterred by the determined con- 
duct of Garnier Pages. 

It was soon apparent that the working classes were dissatisfied with 
the result of the revolution. The social and communist doctrines of 
Fourier and Prudhomme had taken deep root among them, and their 
orators were clamorous for social changes. On the 16th of April, an 
attempt was made to overthrow the moderate section of the govern- 
ment ; but the plot was defeated by the prompt support which the 
national guard gave to the authorities. Lamartine and his colleagues 
now found themselves strengthened by the attempt to break down their 
power, and were enabled to bring the troops of the line back to Paris. 
Meanwhile the election for representatives occurred. The moderate 
republicans gained a complete triumph. On the 4th of May, the re- 
public was officially proclaimed, amid the firing of artillery and the 
shouts of the people ; and on the following day, the members of the 
provisional government tendered their resignations from office, and 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



975 




Lamartine. 



received the thanks of the nation. The assembly then named five of 
its number — Arago, Garnier Pages, Marie, Lamartine, and Ledru 
Rollin — to compose an executive committee. 

Several serious riots, which were not suppressed without bloodshed, 
now denoted the approach of a great struggle between the socialists 
and the friends of the old order of things. Of the leaders of the 
socialists, Louis Blanc was decidedly the most active and influential. 
On the 15th of May, a large meeting was held in the capital, to ex- 
press sympathy for the Polish patriots, who had lately attempted a 
revolution. The wildest excitement reigned, and the assembly was 
denounced in bitter terms. About fifty thousand persons proceeded 
to the chamber, and demanded French interference in the Polish 
quarrel. The crowd rushed into the chamber, and, amid the uproar, 
an attempt was made to get up a provisional government, composed 
of socialists and communists. The assembly dispersed ; but the na- 
tional guard, the young men of the garde mohile, and the troops of 
the line promptly rallied to the support of the government. In a 
short time the mob dispersed, and their leaders, Barbes, Albert, 
Blanqui, Raspail, and Sobrier, were arrested and imprisoned. 

The great struggle was yet to come. The workingmen thought 
the revolution fruitless, while the middle classes were contented. The 
musket and sword alone could decide between them. On the 22d of 
June, a body of workingmen proceeded to the palace of Luxembourg, 
and demanded impossible measures of the executive committee. Being 



976 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 




Louis Blanc. 



refused, they gathered a great crowd, and paraded the streets, shouting, 
" Down with the executive committee !" The next morning it was 
found that the insurgents had erected barricades in every quarter of 
the city, and then the conflict began. Boys and women took part 
with the insurgents, and fought with surprising courage. The troops 
carried the barricades at the Porte St. Denis, at the point of the 
bayonet. The executive committee met, and appointed General Cavaig- 
nac, a bold, determined, and skilful soldier, commander-in-chief of all 
the forces in and around Paris. On Saturday, the insurgents con- 
tinued operations at St. Marceau, St. Antoine, St. Denis, and other 
points. The assembly created Cavaignac dictator, and declared Paris 
in a state of siege. These were wise measures. Before Saturday 
evening, the general had suppressed the insurrection on the left bank 
of the Seine and the city. At the Clos St. Lazare and the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine the struggle was obstinate and destructive. At 
this time the aspect of affairs in Paris was gloomy indeed. At least 
three hundred thousand troops were under arms against one hundred 
and twenty thousand insurgents. One-fourth of the city had been 
ruined to build barricades. On Sunday, the conflict at the Pantheon 
was of the most determined nature. For fifteen hours the firing was 
incessant, and the slaughter on both sides was appalling. At length 
the military cleared the street. 

At this stage of the rebellion, the archbishop of Paris ofi'ered to go 
among the insurgents and restore order. The offer being accepted, 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



979 




Archbishop of Paris. 



he proceeded upon his mission of peace ; the firing being suddenly 
renewed, the prelate was shot in the groin, and borne a^Yay mortally 
wounded. This event caused deep regret on both sides ; the insur- 
gents said they did not purpose to injure a hair of his head. On 
Monday, the conflict was renewed with desperate courage by both 
parties ; but Generals Cavaignac and Lamoriciere captured the 
barricades one after another, and before night the insurgents were 
entirely defeated and quiet restored. In this four-days' contest more 
than twenty thousand persons were slain, and the number of prisoners 
embarrassed the government. The remainder of the week was filled 
by burying the dead, repairing damages done to the city, and restor- 
ing confidence. Many distinguished men fell in this great struggle, 
but none w^as more lamented than General Negrier, a determined and 
talented man. 

On the 29th, General Cavaignac resigned his powers to the assem- 
bly, but was immediately made president of state, with power to name 
his officers. The energy of the general was then displayed in crush- 
ing every manifestation of riot and asserting the supremacy of lawful 
rule. General Changarnier was appointed commander-in-chief of the 
national guard. The great number of soldiers on duty in Paris and 
the vigorous measures of the government at length secured public 
order. The good results of the revolution were not appreciated by 



980 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 




General Negi'ier. 



the great mass of the French people until the 12th of November, 1848, 
when the constitution of the republic was proclaimed. The election 
for president took place in December ; eight million votes -were polled, 
of Avhich Louis Napoleon Bonaparte received six million : he was 
formally proclaimed president on the 20th of December. And thus, 
after a year of mighty exertion, was the change from monarchy and 
nobility to a constitutional republic and equality perfected. 

The French boast that when they move, the world moves. Their 
revolutions certainly do throw Europe into a ferment. The news 
of the February affair stimulated the Germans to strenuous efforts to 
secure constitutional governments. They demanded a new civil and 
criminal code for all Germany, ratifying, among other things, the 
freedom of the press, trial by jury and publicity in all judicial pro- 
ceedings, representative governments in the several states, with the 
right of voting taxes vested in the people alone, civil equality without 
distinction of creed, and, lastly, that the people, as well as the princes, 
should be represented in the council of the German confederation. 
These demands were the old creed of the liberal party of Germany, 
for which they had suffered every kind of persecution; but they were 
now extorted, with more or less violence, in the space of three weeks, 
from every sovereign in Germany. The people of Saxony, Hanover, 
Wurtemburg, and Bavaria gained their demands with but little vio- 
lence. The king of Bavaria had made himself obnoxious to his people 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



981 




General Chanaaxnier. 



by his infatuation for a mistress named Lola Montez, who, for a time, 
governed his political conduct ; but she was driven from the kingdom, 
and the king forced to abdicate. 

The revolution in Vienna began on the occasion of the opening of 
the diet for Lower Austria. An immense crov.-d demanded a liberal 
government ; the ministers were obstinate, and refused them. Sud- 
denly the troops appeared and fired upon the unarmed multitude, 
killing and wounding a great number. This roused the people. The 
Burgher Guard prepared for the conflict, but all violence ceased upon 
the announcement that Prince Metternich had resigned his post of 
premier, and that the emperor had acceded to the popular demands. 
A constitution, securing the rights dearest to the people, was pro- 
claimed on the 25th of April. 



982 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 




Prince Metternioti. 



In Prussia, after the adjournment of the diet, the people of the 
Rhenish provinces broke out in loud cries for reform, and their de- 
mands were echoed from Breslau, Konigsberg, and Berlin. A great 
meeting held at the capital on the loth of March ended in a tumult, 
in which the troops acted with great violence. For nearly a week, 
the city was in continual disorder. On the 15th, though the people 
offered little more than a passive resistance, ten persons were killed 
and about a hundred wounded by the military. On the 18th, a depu- 
tation from Cologne arrived at Berlin, and presented a petition for 
reform. Frederick William having promised to accede to their de- 
mands, they insisted on a proclamation being issued at once to that 
effect, and the king submitted. A constitution based on liberal prin- 
ciples was proclaimed ; the people received it with every manifestation 
of joy. Crowds repaired to the palace and cheered the king; unhap- 
pily, the shouts were mistaken for signals to attack, and the dragoons, 
in forcing the people back, fired upon them. The masses then rushed 
to arms ; barricades were erected, and riflemen posted on every house- 
top. For fifteen hours the people fought with valour and determina- 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 985 



tion, and the soldiers with a fury increased by resistance. On the 
morning of the 19th of March, the king desisted from the contest 
without being defeated. A general amnesty was proclaimed, and the 
monarch was cordially received. About six hundred persons had 
fallen in the street conflict. 

Frederick William had now virtually lost a battle against his own 
subjects ; he hoped to raise his fallen dignity, however, by a bold 
stroke. On the 21st of March, he issued a proclamation declaring 
that he would head the grand movement for the regeneration of Ger- 
many. On the same day the king rode through Berlin, wearing the 
tri-colour, and was received with enthusiasm. Soon after, Microlawski 
and other Poles were liberated from the prison of Berlin, and a war 
broke out between the people of German Posen and those of Polish 
Posen ; both sides displayed the most savage cruelty, and the details 
are too horrid to relate. The war terminated on the 10th of May by 
the capture of Microlawski and the defeat of his troops. 

The republicans of Baden took up arms, under the lead of Hecker 
and Struve. But they were attacked on the 20th of April by the 
forces of the German confederation, then supreme, and totally routed. 
Struve was captured, but was rescued by his friends. Fribourg was 
stormed on the 24th, and Constanz occupied on the same day. Her- 
wcgh, the poet and communist, with nine hundred men was routed, 
with great loss, on the 27th ; and thus the republicans were crushed. 

The German parliament held its first sitting at Frankfort on the 
18th of May, and on the 28th of June the parliament created the 
provisional central power for the administration of all affairs which 
concern the whole German nation. Archduke John, of Austria, M'as 
elected regent by a large majority. He was solemnly installed in 
ofSce on the 12th of July. 

For two months after the revolution in March, Vienna was tranquil. 
But the spirit of revolt was alive in the public mind, and on the 15th 
of May a new movement was made. The students of the university 
took the lead. They demanded that the troops should be v/ithdrawn 
from the city, that the central committee of the national guard should 
be maintained, and that the election law should be declared null and 
void. The ministry withstood these demands a whole day, and were 
then forced to issue a proclamation, conceding all required. On the 
16th of May, the emperor and his family left Vienna, and fled to 
Innspruck, in the Tyrol. This event threw the ministers and people 
into a ferment, and messengers were despatched to entreat the fugi- 
tives to return. But their flight was part of a reaction scheme. The 
aristocratic party spread stories of the ill-treatment of the emperor, 



986 EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



with the purpose of exciting sympathy for him. A final stroke was 
determined to complete the work. On the 26th of May, the aca- 
demical legion of Vienna was ordered to lay down arms and disband 
within twenty-four hours. They refused, and the gates of the town 
were shut and guarded. Barricades were erected in every street, and 
another fierce struggle ensued. This lasted till night, and ended in a 
triumph for the liberals, whose demands were then finally conceded. 
On the 12th of August, the emperor was persuaded to return to Vienna, 
and order was restored once more. 

In the mean time, the Sclavonic race attempted to assert its inde- 
pendence, and a congress to form a national government assembled 
at Prague on the 2d of June. But Prince Windischgratz, with a 
powerful army, took possession of Prague, and completely subdued 
the Sclavonians. 

In October, another insurrection occurred in Vienna, in consequence 
of an attempt to send some troops, favourable to the liberal cause, 
against the Hungarians. The academical legion and the national 
guard supported them in their refusal to go. Barricades were erected ; 
the imperial troops were routed in every quarter. Count Latour, the 
minister of war, was slain and mutilated. On the 7th of October, every 
thing was in the hands of the people, and they might have chosen their 
own form of government. The emperor fled to the Sclavonians, de- 
clared war against the German and Magyar rebels, and appointed 
Prince Windischgratz commander of all the forces of the empire, ex- 
cept the army of Italy. Vienna was soon invested by Windischgratz 
with one hundred thousand men and one hundred and forty guns, and 
after a four-days' conflict, reduced. No quarter was given by the 
savage imperialists, and the city was pillaged. Messenhauser, com- 
mander of the national guard, and Robert Blum, a member of the 
assembly, with other prominent liberals, were shot. The imperial 
authority was now triumphant, but all veneration for Ferdinand was 
at an end among the people. He saw this, and was induced to abdi- 
cate on tlie 2d of December, in favour of the son of the archduke 
Francis Charles, who succeeded him as Francis Joseph I. Of the 
Hungarian war which followed this abdication we have already given 
an account. 

In Italy, the year 1848 was, from the outset, marked with great 
events. On the 12th of January, the fete-day of King Ferdinand of 
Naples, the people of Palermo and all the large towns of Sicily, arose 
and drove out the Neapolitan troops. On the 28th the Neapolitans 
received a liberal constitution, but the Sicilians refused to accept it, 
defeated all the royal troops sent against them, elected their own 



EUROPEAN EEVOLUTIONS. 987 




Robert Blum, 

parliament, and on the 13tli of April, formally declared the independ- 
ence of Sicily. On the 1st of February, the Tuscans obtained a con- 
stitution more liberal than that of the Sicilians. The Sardinians, 
Piedmontese, and Romans followed. But in the constitution obtained 
by the latter people, civil and ecclesiastical powers were united, which 
made it objectionable to the masses. 

In the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, resistance to the Austrian 
power began in the early part of January, 1848. On the 3d, the 
Austrian soldiers were inflamed to such a pitch against the people, 
that they killed or wounded ninety-one persons. At Pavia, the Aus- 
trians attacked a funeral procession. Other outrages followed, and 
an intense hatred of the Austrians pervaded the mass of the Italian 
people. When the news of the revolution in Vienna reached Milan, 
the people flocked to the government house, and demanded the release 
of all political prisoners, and the formation of a national guard. The 
soldiers fired on the people; and they, shouting " Vive I'ltalia !" 
rushed forward, overpowered the guard, captured the vice-governor, 
and planted the tri-colour banner on the palace. Radetski had twelve 
thousand Austrians under his command, and yet was compelled to act 
on the defensive. The conflict raged day and night until the evening 
of the 23d of March, when the Austrians were compelled to retire 
toward Vienna. The other cities of Lombardy followed the example 
of Milan — Venice declared itself a republic, and Mantua and Verona 
alone sheltered the Austrians. 



988 EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



A powerful Italian army was soon in the vicinity of Milan, under 
the command of Charles Albert of Piedmont. Peschiero was taken 
after a two days' siege, and the Austrians were beaten at Goito. But 
these successes were rendered fruitless by the weakness or treachery 
of Durando, the Roman general, who surrendered Yicenza to Radetski. 
The Austrian general then became master of all the Venetian territory 
except the capital. In the beginning of July, the Italian army occu- 
pied a line thirty miles in length, from Mantua to Rivoli. Bava de- 
feated four thousand Austrians near Governolo. But on the 22d of 
July, the wdiole Austrian force descended on La Corona, and carried 
the lines of Rivoli. The capture of Somma Campagna followed, and 
on the 25th the decisive battle was fought at that place. It lasted 
nearly all day. The Piedmontcse fought bravely, and the victory 
Avas only decided in favour of the Austrians by the arrival of Radetski, 
with a reserve of twenty thousand men. Charles Albert, with the 
remnant of his army, retreated to Milan, where he capitulated to Ra- 
detski, and on the 7th of August the Austrians were masters of Milan. 

A^enice, besieged and blockaded by land and sea, nobly maintained 
her republicanism and independent spirit. Manine was the republican 
chief, and was distinguished for energy and skill. The siege con- 
tinued more than five months, and then the Venetians surrendered on 
favourable terms. 

In the mean time, Charles Albert prepared for another campaign, 
and announced his resolution to drive the Austrians beyond the Alps, 
or to perish in the eftort. The conflict vras obstinate, though short. 
Three successive battles were fought on tlie plains of Verelli, the last 
on the 4th of March, 1849. Fifty thousand men on each side were 
engaged. Charles Albert displayed undaunted bravery, but could 
neither win the day nor die by the hand of an enemy. The Pied- 
montcse were driven to the mountains, and Charles Albert resigned 
the crown to his son, Victor Emanuel. The Austrians were then 
supreme in Northern Italy. 

In Rome, the demands of the people went further than the gene- 
rosity of the pope. The breach between the government and the people 
widened upon every symptom of reaction in the conduct of the pontiff. 
On the 24th of November, 1848, the pope, disguised as a servant of 
the Bavarian envoy. Count Spohr, left Rome, and hastened to the 
town of Gaeta, in the kingdom of Naples. From this place he issued 
a manifesto, condemning the republicans of Rome, and explaining the 
reasons for his flight. lie also nominated a governing commission, 
under the lead of Cardinal Castricani, to execute his orders in Rome. 
The people received the manifesto with an expression of contempt and 



EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



989 




General Garibaldi. 



indignation. Castricani and the others appointed to administer the 
government prudently left the city. 

The conditions demanded by the pope before he would return to 
Rome were so despotic, that the people at once set about organizing 
a government for themselves. A day was appointed for the election 
of a constituent assembly to frame a constitution. The pope issued a 
protest against the election, and excommunicated all who should vote. 
But excommunication had no power to control the Romans or prevent 
them from choosing their rulers. They laughed at it. When the 
newly-elected assembly met, the question came up, what form of 
government should be adopted by the Roman states. The debate was 
lengthy, but was conducted with an earnest desire to reach a wise 
conclusion. On the 9th of February, 1849, it was decided that the 
form of government should be a pure democracy, and take the name 
of the Roman republic, and that the pope should be guarantied his 
spiritual power only. Only five members of one hundred and forty- 
four voted in the negative. A provisional ministry, at the head of 
which was Armelini, was created, and the republic proclaimed. 

The pope now decided that it would be necessary to call upon the 
Catholic powers for aid, if he would be restored to authority. This 
proved that he had lost the confidence of that people whom he had 
asserted to be misled by a few bad men. The French government, 
afraid to avow the course it would adopt, secretly fitted out an expe- 



990 EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS. 



clition, which set sail from Marseilles on the 22d of April, 1849, under 
General Oudinot. Before embarking, a proclamation was issued, 
which led the French to believe that the expedition was destined to 
support the republican cause in Italy. Oudinot landed his army at 
Civita Yecchia. The Austrians, under Marshal Winpan, entered the 
papal states on the north, an army of Neapolitans advanced on the 
south, and a body of Spaniards landed at Micino. Rome was sur- 
rounded by foes to her self-government, but her brave people Avere 
firm in upholding the republic. The old Roman spirit awoke from the 
slumber of centuries. A triumvirate was appointed, consisting of 
Mazzini, Saffi, and Armelini. The Neapolitans were routed at Pales- 
trina, and, as the Austrians and Spaniards did not hurry their march, 
the struggle came between the Romans and French. 

Oudinot, arriving before the city, sent a deputation to the govern- 
ment, declaring the objects of the French invasion were to prevent 
Austrian interference and to restore the pope to his dominions, and 
demanding that the gates of the city should be thrown open to the 
French army. The government rejected all interference, and refused 
to admit the enemy. Oudinot was informed that the Romans would 
resist his entrance with all their power. The French began the attack, 
but were repulsed with a heavy loss. The Romans were commanded 
by Garibaldi, Avezzano, and other able and energetic men. The 
French were soon powerfully reinforced, and on the 2d of June the 
attack was renewed. Battle after battle was fought, and the siege 
continued till the 30th of June, when the triumvirs, considering resist- 
ance hopeless, ceased hostilities. The last acts of the assembly were 
to order the constitution to be engraved on marble and placed in the 
capita], and that funeral service should be celebrated for those who 
had fallen in defence of the city. The French army entered Rome, 
and the republican leaders fled. Thus was the Roman republic, the 
free choice of the great mass of the people, crushed by a foreign 
soldiery. This invasion disgraced the French in the eyes of the repub- 
licans of the world. The pope could not be induced to return to Rome 
for some time after its capture, and when he did, he was coldly 
received. Every thing indicates that foreign influence alone can 
maintain him in authority. 




Colonel Fremont. 



NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 




'HE territories of New Mexico and California, wliicli 
have lately attracted much attention in consequence of 
a discovery of their great resources, in 1845 formed a 
part of the Mexican republic. The history of the lat- 
ter country is interesting and important. In 1541, Ca- 
brillo discovered New California, which lay neglected 
for sixty years, until a Spanish expedition arrived to survey the coast. 
It was found to possess many commodious harbours, while the mari- 
time provinces appeared fertile and full of promise. The settlement 
of San Diego was then established near the junction of the peninsula 
of Old, and the mainland of New California, and the conquest of the 
region was vigorously commenced and steadily pursued. To follow 
the track of Spanish enterprise would be to lead the reader through a 
labyrinth of details. The adventurous navigators of those days were 

63 993 



994 NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 



not SO skilful in subjugating as in exploring ; but in all cases they 
took nominal possession of the countries they discovered. Drake 
visited the shores of California, and gave the name of New Albion to 
the whole region ; but the claim he thus set up was never sought to 
be supported ; though Pinkerton, in an account of his voyage, declares 
that he made discoveries precisely similar to those recently made on 
the banks of the Rio Sacramento. These he describes in the florid 
language of the time : <' The land is so rich in gold and silver, that 
upon the slightest turning it up with a spade or pickaxe, these rich 
metals plainly appear mixed with the mould." In 1C02 Sebastian 
Visconio by chance touched at the harbour of Monterey, and there 
proclaimed the neighbouring provinces to be Spanish territory; but 
these titles to possession were seldom recognised by rival powers ; and 
the nations that in those times held the supremacy of commerce, 
struggled for the possession of California, though with weakness and 
vacillation. At length it appeared as though the contending powers 
had exhausted their vigour, and with it abandoned their ambition. 
Toward the close of the seventeenth century, the whole country w\as 
yielded to the Jesuits, who took possession of it with the design of 
extending their conquest by the easy, safe, and gradual means which, 
to their subtle discernment, appeared far better than the rough and 
speedy plan pursued by sailors and military navigators. 

They carried no arms with them, they built no fortifications, and 
displayed none of those instruments of war with which civilized men 
have habitually sought to inspire with aAve the minds of barbarian 
races. The subtlety of the Jesuits has passed into a proverb ; and in 
no period of their history do we perceive this characteristic so deeply 
marked as in the policy they pursued during the period of their do- 
minion in California. With gifts, promises, and soothing encourage- 
ments, they attracted the Indian's afi'ection; with mysterious rites, 
with solemn pomp and grave discourse, they inspired him with respect ; 
and thus with a soft hand drawing the aborigines within the circle of 
their influence, they held them there with an iron grasp until the 
whole country fell under their sway. They had sown the seed ; it 
was now their pleasant task to reap the harvest. Missions were 
established, and around each of these a district was marked out, where 
the lands were put under cultivation, and the soil was speedily so 
productive that the Jesuits had great reason to rejoice in their acqui- 
sition. A flourishing commerce was opened. Ships from the old 
world came to be laden with the riches of this favoured region, and 
gradually a lucrative trade was established and circulated through the 
magnificent harbours that abound along the coast. Valuable pearl 



NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 



995 



banks were discovered, and the rich lands of Alta California, crowned 
with peace and plenty, well rewarded the skilful energy that was 
expended on them ; though they still kept the secret of that exhaust- 
less mine of wealth which would long ago, if known, have peopled 
California with an avaricious population of needy adventurers brought 
from the four quarters of the globe. 

The Jesuits rose to prosperity in their Californian territories, and 
were little disposed to share the spoil with any rivals. To secure, 
therefore, the monopoly which was so profitable to them, they dis- 
seminated through Europe, by means of their industrious agents, 
accounts which represented California as a land of thirsty aridity, 
with an ungenial climate, a savage, intractable population, and a soil 
poor almost to utter barrenness. Those who circulated these reports 
were generally the masters of ships, that, deeply laden with the riches 
of California, sailed home by a circuitous route, and contained in their 
well-stored holds the substantial contradiction of such false assertions. 
Yet the Jesuits, while they laboured to monopolize the wealth of 
their territory, carried on at the same time a humanizing process, 
which at least prepared the aboriginal population to receive the im- 
press of a pure and enlightened civilization. They wrought the soil, 
they sought for precious gums, and woods, and metals ; but at the 
same time they taught the Indians : and under their influence the 
country was changed from a vast wilderness of rank vegetation to a 
fruitful, well-cultivated land ; and the Indian tribes, allured from 
their savage haunts, became orderly, industrious communities — each 
gathered about a missionary establishment, and subject to the tem- 
poral and spiritual control of a Jesuit father. At length Lord Anson, 
in the course of one of his buccaneering cruises, made prize of a 
richly-freighted ship sailing from California. This capture revealed 
the hidden avarice of the Jesuits ; and a series of circumstances origi- 
nating in that incident led to their expulsion from the country. It 
was then, by a revolution, transferred into the possession of the Do- 
minican monks of Mexico and the Franciscan friars, who shared 
authority between them, and, working in fellowship, divided the 
reward. 

Alta California had not progressed so well as the lower country, 
which already contained numerous villages ; but, from this period 
forward, its superior fertility and attraction placed it first. Settlers 
multiplied, and the germs of small towns sprang up and grew rapidly. 
Before 1803, eighteen missions were planted, and to each of these 
was attached a tribe of Indians, sometimes of more than twelve hun- 
dred in number ; they enrolled themselves under the protection of the 



996 NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 

monks, and laboured in the lands belonging to the mission. Some- 
times a refractory Indian family was captured, compelled to adopt the 
name at least of servants, and forced to labour for the mission ; but, 
in return, it was treated with hospitality and kindness. The neo- 
phytes increased in numbers, and, as the reward of their industry, the 
monks clothed them well, fed them, and elevated their condition to a 
degree of comfort to which, through ignorance, they had never before 
aspired. It is not remarkable that they easily abandoned their inde- 
pendence for a servitude that was at once so easy and so profitable. 
Industry and population rise together. In eleven years from 1790, 
the number of inhabitants in Alta California rose from 7,748 to 13,668 ; 
and in another year was increased by two thousand. The wheat raised 
increased from 15,000 to 32,000 bushels, and the oxen from 25,000 
to 60,000. From this it will be seen how thinly peopled the country 
originally was, and what a beneficent effect was produced by the 
exertions of these few European settlers. The process continued 
until 1835, when troubles broke out, and the form of government Avas 
changed. A council of administrators ruled the affairs of California; 
the priests, whose energies had been so productive of good, were per- 
mitted no longer to exercise any other than the functions of simple 
pastors ; and the Indians, disgusted with the change, forsook the 
civilization that no longer afforded them assistance or protection, or 
added to their comforts ; and, retreating once more into their native, 
woods, became lost in a darker barbarism than ever. The savage 
once reclaimed and again degenerated is as far below the original 
level of untaught humanity as that level is below the elevation of 
civilized society. The reason lies on the surface. He abandons all 
the good, and clings to all the evil ; for it appears impossible to teach 
barbarians the amenities of civilized life, without inspiring them with 
the love of those polished vices that corrupt us, even in the highest 
stages of our existence. 

A Avar commenced between the Indians and the new conquerors of 
their land. The administrators were tyrannical in the true sense of 
the word ; they plundered the country instead of developing the re- 
sources of its soil, and robbed the natives instead of profiting by their 
protected and productive industry. The Indians retaliated, making 
frequent and fierce incursions into the mission lands, laying them 
waste, and cutting off whatever enemies they could surprise. To 
punish them, a body of Mexicans marched into their territory, wasted 
their valleys, burned their villages, massacred their old men, and bore 
aAvay their women and children into a hard and hopeless servitude. 
California, from the shore to the Sierra Nevada, from Cape Mendo- 



NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 999 



cino to the point of the Lower Peninsula, was the theatre of a mise- 
rable and harassing contest, in -which defeat was followed hj no sub- 
mission, and success acquired for neither party either honour or profit. 
Mexico wanted either the ability or the will to pacify her subjects in 
California. The whole region relapsed into perfect anarchy; the 
missions that formerly stood in the midst of thriving and populous 
districts were now deserted and left tenantless, surrounded by solitary 
wastes ; ruins covered the country, and the whole region was rapidly 
sinking into its original savage state. 

But a change of masters was at hand. In 1846, war broke out 
between Mexico and the United States, and Commodore Sloat, com- 
mander of the United States Pacific squadron, was ordered to take 
possession of the ports of Upper California. This was easily effected, 
and without loss. Monterey, San Francisco, San Diego, and Santa 
Barbara were successively taken; and, in the north, Captain John 
C. Frdmont, who, with one hundred and seventy men, had marched 
overland on an exploring expedition, took possession of Sonora and 
San Juan, and raised a body of volunteers. Commodore Stockton, 
who had succeeded Commodore Sloat in command of the Pacific squa- 
dron, now joined his force with that of Fremont, and took possession 
of the Puebla de los Angeles, without meeting opposition. Thus was 
the whole territory brought beneath the authority of the United States. 

In the mean time, an army consisting of one thousand mounted 
riflemen, raised in the Western States, and a small regular force, 
under the command of General Stephen W. Kearny, marched from 
Fort Leavenworth to Santa F^, and took possession of the whole 
territory of New Mexico without opposition. George Bent was then 
appointed civil governor, and a code of laws drawn up for the country. 
Colonel Doniphan, with the western mounted men, was despatched to 
Chihuahua to meet General Wool, and performed one of the most 
astonishing marches recorded in history, traversing a great extent of 
unknown and hostile country, defeating superior forces in two battles 
at Bracito and Sacramento, and arriving at General Taylor's camp 
in Mexico, with little or no loss, and many trophies. The troops 
composing this army soon after returned to the United States. In 
the mean time. General Kearny left Santa Fe, and, with only one 
hundred dragoons, marched one thousand miles to the frontier settle- 
ment of Upper California, and defeated a superior force of California 
lancers at San Pasqual. There he learned that the people of the 
territory had risen against the authority of Commodore Stockton and 
Colonel Fremont, which caused him to hasten his march to San Diego 
on the Pacific. 



1000 NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 



In the latter part of December, 1846, decisive operations against tlie 
Californians were planned, and Kearny and Stockton, -with about six 
hundred men, chiefly sailors, left San Diego and marched towards the 
capital. At the Rio San Gabriel, General Flores with six hundred Cali- 
fornians opposed their progress, but were attacked and defeated. On the 
plains of the Mesa, the next day, the Californians made another effort 
for their capital, charging the Americans furiously ; but they were again 
defeated, and the next day the victors took possession of Puebla de los 
Angeles. Peace was then secured throughout the territory, and Kearny 
became military governor. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 
1848, Upper California and New Mexico were secured to the United 
States. The results of this change of masters were soon obvious. 

During a considerable time, North America had been linked to Cali- 
fornia by a chain of immigration, slender but continuous, that ran 
through the passes of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. 
The intercommunication between the countries beyond the Mississippi 
and the valley of Alta California was noAV increased to a high degree, 
and greatly developed a system of intercourse which may be regarded 
as one of the most curious features of the civilization which it served 
to quicken to" a more vigorous growth. Between the city of Indepen- 
dence, in the state of Missouri, and the city of Los Angeles, in Upper 
California, circulated a constant flow of intercourse, which originated 
about forty-five years ago in the enterprise of James Pursley, a private 
adventurer, who travelled much through the wilder provinces — then 
far wilder than now — that border the banks of the beautiful Missis- 
sippi. Near the waters of the Platte River, a party of Indians received 
him as the companion of their wanderings. With them he went to 
Santa Fe, a trading station on the western slope of the Rocky Range, 
and is supposed to have bartered some American commodities with the 
people of that place. Although a French Creole, it is said, had already 
carried on a secret commerce between America and California, James 
Pursley opened the regular system of intercourse ; but his desultory 
enterprises led at first to results of little importance. It was sixteen 
years before a regular caravan started from the Missouri and travelled 
to Santa Fe. The journey was one of uncertainty and danger. It 
led through a savage region, peopled by wild tribes ; and when, in 
1822, a company of traders was formed, their commercial adventures 
were much restrained by the perils that beset their way. Roaming 
bands of Indians hung on the line of march, committing murders on 
the straggling travellers, and plundering any vehicles that might linger 
behind. Numerous graves soon dotted the borders of the trail, and 
frequent conflicts occurred. 



NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 1001 



In 1824, eighty merchants, with a large train of wagons and mules, 
set out from the city of Independence, with commodities amounting in 
value to thirty thousand dollars ; and the successive caravans that 
issued year after year, and crossed the same solitary plains and deso- 
late country, were constantly attacked by bands of Indians that lay 
in ambush to rush out as the head of the wagon trains appeared in 
sight. At first, the traders Avent armed, and defended their own 
property, often repulsing their assailants with considerable vigour and 
success ; but in the course of five years the value of the intercourse 
was so great, and had attracted so many marauders to infest the trail, 
that it was founji necessary to send bodies of mounted riflemen to 
protect the caravan during a part of its progress. 

But the accidental development of the wealth of California now 
gave a mighty impetus to the country. The circumstances which led 
to this are as follow. A Swiss soldier. Captain Sutter, had, many 
years before, obtained the grant of a vast tract of land in the valley 
of the Sacramento, and by dint of great exertions had made it valuable 
for grazing and cultivation. The whole of this vast estate, when it 
- came into his possession, was overgrown with tall rank grass, and a 
few oaks or pines. It was situated on the border of the American 
river, above the confluence of the Sacramento and the San Joachim ; 
and the new owner, who was the first white man that settled in that 
spot, immediately busied himself with clearing and cultivating the 
land, and preparing for a long and prosperous settlement. He at once 
erected a small house, surrounded by a stockade, and, Avith his few 
companions, prepared to construct a fort. Two howitzers formed his 
armament ; but these were little needed. The Indian hordes, though 
they at firsf carried ofi" horses and cattle, only ventured once upon a 
direct attack, and then the harmless explosion of a shell above their 
heads inspired them with so much respect for the white man's weapons, 
that they thereafter left him in peace. By conciliation he attracted 
them to him. They consented to labour for reward, made and baked 
the bricks for the fort, dug the ditches to divide the fields and prevent 
the cattle straying, and worked at all the branches of industry to 
which he taught them to apply themselves. By way of precaution, he 
was very careful to trust few of them with arms and ammunition. 
They were easily brought to complete submission, for they Avere with- 
out pride ; and the scene which took place at their breakfast hour 
every morning suflBciently showed that they had lost the high spirit 
which has been the characteristic of some of the Indian races. Three 
hundred men were marshalled within the walls, long troughs were 
filled with a mess of boiled wheat-bran, and kneeling in ranks before 



1002 NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 



these, like so many horses at the manger, they fed themselves with 
their hands. By degrees were procured fourteen pieces of artillery to 
fortify his walls ; but these became gradually without use, except to 
fire a salute on days of rejoicing. "With his wife and daughter and 
his Indian labourers, the captain lived very much like an independent 
chief among a barbarous tribe, and at length brought seventeen hun- 
dred acres of land under good culture. Ultimately the discovery was 
made which at once gave a sudden impulse to his own fortune, and 
raised California from neglect to an almost universal attention. From 
Captain Sutter's account, we learn that in September, 1847, he erected 
a water-mill in a spot more than a thousand feet above the level of 
the lower valley. His friend, Mr. Marshall, was engaged in superin- 
tending an alteration in it, and Captain Sutter was sitting one after- 
noon in his own room writing. Suddenly Marshall rushed in with 
such excitement in his face, that his friend confesses to have cast an 
anxious eye at his rifle. His sudden appearance was sufficiently cu- 
rious ; but Sutter thought him mad when he cried out that he had 
made a discovery which would pour into their coffers millions and 
millions of dollars with little labour. "I frankly own," he says, " that 
when I heard this I thought something had touched Marshall's brain, 
when suddenly all my misgivings were put an end to by his flinging 
on the table a handful of scales of pure virgin gold. I was fairly 
thunderstruck." It was explained that, while widening the channel 
that had been made too narrow to allow the mill-wheel to work pro- 
perly, a mass of sand and gravel was thrown up by the excavators. 
Glittering in this Mr. Marshall noticed what he thought to be an 
opal — a clear transparent stone common in California. This was a 
scale of pure gold, and the first idea of the discoverer was, that some 
Indian tribe or ancient possessors of the land had buried a treasure. 
Examination, however, showed the whole soil to teem with the precious 
metal ; and then mounting a horse, he rode down to carry the intelli- 
gence to his partner. To none but him did he tell the story of his 
discovery, and they two agreed to maintain secret the rich reward. 
Proceeding together to the spot, they picked up a quantity of the 
scales ; and with nothing but a small knife. Captain Sutter extracted 
from a little hollow in the rock a solid mass of gold weighing an ounce 
and a half. But the attempt to conceal this valuable revelation was 
not successful. An artful Kentuckian labourer, observing the eager 
looks of the two searchers, followed and imitated them, picking up 
several flakes of gold. Gradually the report spread, and as the 
would-be monopolists returned towards the mill, a crowd met them 
holding out flakes of gold, and shouting with joy. Mr. Marshall sought 



NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 1003 



to laugh them out of the idea, and pretended the metal was of little 
value ; but an Indian who had long worked elsewhere in a mine of the 
costly metal, cried, " Oro ! oro !" and " Gold ! gold !" was shouted in 
a lively chorus by the delighted multitude. 

The rumour was spread abroad, and the people of San Francisco 
began to leave the town, and swarm to the " diggins." A large body 
of Mormon emigrants had just entered Alta California through the 
south pass of the Rocky Mountains ; they immediately encamped near 
gutter's Mill, and within a few days more than twelve hundred men 
were at work, with buckets, baskets, shovels, spades, and sheets of 
canvas, seeking for gold in the sand of the south fork of the Rio des 
los Americanos. The first plan was to spread the sand on canvas, and 
blow away Avith a reed all but the gold. In the first impulse of a 
selfish heart the discoverer sought to monopolize his knowledge ; but 
as the dawn of every day revealed new stores of the metal, this feel- 
ing died away, for the wealth of the region seemed so great, tliat the 
cupidity of the world could not exhaust it. 

Perhaps in no other country, at any period of its history, has so 
sudden and wonderful a revolution taken place as tliat which followed 
the discovery of the gold in the American fork. Alta California, be- 
tween the Snowy Mountains and the sea, was then peopled by about 
twenty-five thousand inhabitants — of whom more than half were bap- 
tized natives, a third Spanish- Americans, and the remainder a motley 
collection of settlers from all parts of the world. • The knowledge of 
its auriferous soil immediately attracted to California several currents 
of emigration ; and as well over the Rocky Mountains as by sea, 
ceaseless arrivals from all quarters of the globe swelled the population. 
The towns on the coast were soon almost vrholly deserted, and the 
few residents that remained, made ample fortunes by levying exorbi- 
tant sums for the entertainment and supply of the travellers who came 
to the port. 

In May, 1848, the negro waiter at the San Francisco Hotel, before 
the mania had reached its greatest height, refused to serve his master 
at the rate of less than ten dollars, which is regarded here as a respect- 
able income for a professional man. But the universal rage was so 
strong, that the " mineral yellow fever," as it was termed, left San 
Francisco at first almost Avhoily deserted ; and at the same season a 
large fleet of merchant vessels lay helpless and abandoned, some par- 
tially, others wholly deserted. One ship from the Sandwich Islands 
was left with no one but its captain on board ; from another the cap- 
tain started with all his crew, replying to an observation on his flagrant 
conduct, that the cables and anchors would wear well till his return, 



1004 NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 



and that as every one was too busy to plunder, lie ran no risk by de- 
serting his duty. The " Star" and " California" newspapers, published 
at San Francisco, ceased appearing, as the whole staff, from the editor 
to the errand-boy, had gone to dig for gold : and among the most 
active workers in the valley was the " attorney-general to the king of 
the Sandwich Islands." The influence of this wonderful excitement 
extended all over the world, but was felt most powerfully in the neigh- 
bouring regions of Oregon and Mexico. There, during the early 
period of the excitement, the public roads — and especially the nearest 
way over the hills — were crowded with anxious travellers, each face 
bent towards the ridges of hills dividing their adopted country from 
the gold regions. Whole towns and villages may be seen peopled by 
scarcely any other than women, while the men are devoutly on the 
pilgrims' path to the shrine of mighty Mammon. Two peculiar results 
have been produced in America. The unmarried population is be- 
coming thinner month after month, so that wedding chimes are far 
less frequent than of yore ; while hypochondriacal patients, whom no 
sensible friends could persuade of their healthy condition, have for- 
gotten their aff'ected ills, and encountered all the weariness and perils 
of the journey between their sick-chambers and a canvas tent in the 
valley of the Sacramento. 

These were incidents which took place early after the discovery. 
Others followed still more curious. The population that was suddenly 
gathered together in the valley of the Sacramento was among the 
most motley and heterogeneous ever collected in any spot on the sur- 
face of the globe. Californian Indians, with their gay costume in 
gaudy mimicry of the old nobility of Castile ; rough American adven- 
turers, lawyers, merchants, farmers, artisans, professional men, and 
mechanics of all descriptions, thronged into the scene. Among them 
were conspicuous a few ancient Spanish dons in embroidered blue and 
crimson clothes, that in their own country have been out of fashion for 
forty years. A few gentlemen, and numbers of women, were among 
the delvers ; while, after some months had elapsed, even China opened 
her gates to let out some adventurous house-builders, who took junks 
at Canton, sailed across ten thousand miles of sea, arrived at San 
Francisco, and there betook themselves to their calling, and made 
large fortunes by the construction of light portable buildings for the 
use of the gold-finders in the hot and populous valley. 

Within eighteen months, one hundred thousand men arrived in Alta 
California from the United States, and settled temporarily in the val- 
ley, though, after a short period, the return steamers were as well 
laden with life as the others. Nine thousand immense wagons came 



NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 



1005 



through the pass of the Rockj Mountains, -with an average of five 
persons to each vehicle ; four thousand emigrants rode on horseback 
through the same route ; and of the others, many crossed the Isthmus 
of Panama, where the passengers have sometimes been so impatient 
that the government packets have been pressed into their service, and 
compelled to start on their voyage before the arrival of the mails. 
Others made the sea-voyage of seventeen thousand miles round the 
head of Cape Horn ; and multitudes of these have intrusted them- 
selves, during the passage of the turbulent world of waters heaving 
round the head of this gloomy promontory, to leaky and shattered 
barks, resembling that in which Columbus made his last voyage from 
the New World to Spain. The American steam-ship California was 
the first that ever doubled that cape into the Pacific. In a New York 
paper sixty sail of ships were advertised to sail for the Gold Region 
in one day. An analysis of the multitudes that poured, and still pour 
into the Gold Region, leads to a curious result, since it shows what 
classes are most ready to leave their habitual employments to flock 
round the altar of Mammon, with the chance of acquiring sudden for- 
tune and the risk of a ruin equally speedy. One-third of them are 
calculated as belonging to the tillers of the soil, an equal number is 
drawn from among the shopkeepers and artisans, and the remainder is 
made up of persons engaged in commerce, professional men, and that 
large and indescribable class which, for want of a more distinct term, 
we must comprehend under the title of adventurers. 

The waters lying between the coast of California and the isthmus, 
and further round Cape Horn to New York, were never before con- 
verted into such a crowded highway. Vessels were constantly passing 
to and fro, and all of them were peopled either by sanguine adventu- 
rers with the hot fever of desire upon them, or disappointed men who 
were returning remorsefully to their homes, moralizing in philosophic 
vein over the theory of the far-famed fable — that industry alone is the 
genius that possesses the power to turn all things to gold. 




IpT 




mL:- 








Havana 



CUBA. 




x-'K?"^ 



UBA is the largest and most 
■westerly of the Antilles. Its 
greatest len^^th is two hundred 
and fifty-seven leagues, and its 
width thirty leagues. The 
Gulf of Mexico is closed by Cuba, with 
the exception of two narrow passages ; 
the one to the south between Cape 
Cotocho and Cape San Antonio, and the 
other to the north between Bahia 
Honda and the Florida shoals. The island has a vast extent of coast 
and many fine ports. Its soil is almost unrivalled in fertility, and it 
is rich in minerals. Recent events have directed public attention to 
Cuba, and a sketch of its history may therefore be acceptable. 

Cuba was discovered in 1492 by Columbus. In 1511, Don Diego 
Velasquez sailed from St. Domingo, with four vessels and about 
three hundred men, for the conquest of this island. He landed on 
the 25th of July, near the bay of St. Jago, to which he gave its name. 
The natives, commanded by the cacique Hatney, who had fled from 
St. Domingo on account of the cruelty of the Spaniards, strove to 
check the progress of the invaders, but in vain. The noise of the 



1006 



-^ 



B P '24 



CUBA. 



1007 




General Narciso Lopez. 

fire-arms was enough to put the natives to flight. Hatney was taken 
and burned alive. This terrible act had the desired effect on the 
other caciques, and they hastened to pay homage to Velasquez. The 
Spaniards gained possession of Cuba without the loss of a single man. 
They became exasperated at not finding the mines as rich as they 
hoped, and gradually exterminated the natives whom they could not 
employ. About two centuries elapsed after the conquest, without the 
occurrence of any remarkable event. 

In 1741, the English admiral Vernon sailed in July from Jamaica, 
and entered the bay of Guantanamo, which he named Cumberland. 
He landed his troops twenty miles up the river, where they remained 
in perfect inaction until November, when they went back to Jamaica. 
But the English did not give up the idea of getting possession of 
Cuba. In 1762, they sent a formidable expedition, consisting of 
nineteen ships of the line, eighteen small vessels of war, and one 
hundred and fifty transports, conveying twelve thousand troops. This 
fleet appeared off Havana on the 6th of June. Four thousand troops 
went from America, in July, to reinforce them. The English were 
several times repelled, but on the 13th of August the Spaniards sur- 
rendered. The conquerors obtained an immense amount of booty. 
In 1763, the island was restored to Spain in exchange for the Flo- 
ridas. Since then, Cuba has remained a Spanish island, very pro- 
ductive, and strongly fortified. 

In the course of the latter part of 1849, reports spread through the 
United States, that the people of Cuba were anxious to free them- 
selves from the Spanish rule, and establish an independent state. 



1008 



CUBA. 



Companies of men were secretly enlisted in various quarters, muni- 
tions of war and the means of transportation prepared, in despite of 
the proclamation of President Taylor announcing his determination to 
maintain the neutral laws of the United States. The adventurers 
collected at New Orleans, under the command of General Narciso 
Lopez, a brave but unskilful soldier. On the 25th of April, a por- 
tion of the troops engaged for the expedition left New Orleans in the 
barque Georgiana, and sailed to the island of Contoy. There they 
were joined by General Lopez, with the rest of the troops, in the 
steamer Creole, which then sailed for Cuba. Gen. Lopez and his men, 
six hundred in number, landed at Cardenas on the 19th of May, 
and, after considerable fighting, gained possession of the town. But 
as fev/ of the inhabitants seemed disposed to join them, and the 
Spanish troops were numerous and determined, the invaders embarked 
the same night, and returned to the United States. Their loss was 
not severe, while that of the Spaniards amounted to nearly two 
hundred in killed and wounded. 

The attempt to revolutionize Cuba was renewed, under the conduct 
of General Lopez, in the summer of 1851, and was attended with more 
disastrous results. On the night of the 11th of August, Lopez, with 
four hundred and sixty-five men, landed at Bahia Honda, and 
marched for Las Posas, eight miles distant. Colonel Crittenden, with 
one hundred and fifteen men, was left in charge of the basfgafje and 
stores at Bahia Honda. At Las Posas General Lopez was atl 3ked 
by a force more than double his own ; but he succeeded in repulsing 
them with great loss on their part. In the mean time. Colonel Crit- 
tenden was attacked by a large body of Spanish troops, and after a 
brave resistance, his men were dispersed. Colonel Crittenden, with 
fifty-two men, attempted to escape by sea in open boats, but they 
were captured by the Spanish frigate Pizarro, and taken to Havana, 
where they were shot by order of the captain-general. Lopez and his 
small band, exposed to constant attacks, and without provisions, were 
compelled to fly to the mountains. They were nearly all killed, or 
captured and taken to Havana. General Lopez was publicly 
garotted^ while his men were condemned to a long imprisonment. 
So ended an expedition, undertaken with false views, and conducted 
with much imprudence. 



THE END. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHXSOX AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 



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